A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Industrial production rises in April

Industrial production picked up in April but has not fully recovered from significant falls in activity earlier in the year.

Latest industrial production figures, released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), show that overall production rose by 8.6 per cent in April compared with March, and was 11 per cent higher than April 2005.

In the three months to the end of April, average production remained 5.3 per cent lower than in the preceding three months, due to sharp falls in February.

The more recent upturn is broadly balanced. Output in the so-called "modern" multinational and high technology sectors rose by 8.4 month-on-month and by 12.2 per cent year-on-year.

Output in more traditional and indigenous sectors rose by 6.1 per cent month-on-month and 6.9 per cent year-on-year.

Amarin confirms UK, Dublin listing

Amarin, the drug development company run by former Elan executives, confirmed yesterday it plans to sell its shares in London and Dublin, in addition to its current US listing, in a bid to boost the group's profile.

As reported in yesterday's Irish Times, Nasdaq-listed Amarin will sell its shares on Dublin's Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) - a market for small and developing companies - and its UK equivalent, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

In a statement, Amarin said it did not plan to raise any extra funds through the additional listings as it was already well funded with $3.3 million (€2.6 million) of cash as of the end of March.

Calyx acquisition approved at egm

Irish communications group Calyx said yesterday its shareholders had approved all the resolutions at its extraordinary general meeting, including the acquisition of two divisions of the UK Matrix group and the admission of shares to trading on Dublin's IEX market.

The acquisition, which needed shareholder approval because it was a reverse takeover, is expected to be complete on June 12th. The deal is estimated to be worth as much as €59.4 million.

Irish pharma firm founder knighted

The founder of Irish pharmaceutical company Galen Holding, Dr Allen McClay, was knighted yesterday. His contributions to business and charity were recognised in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

After retiring from Galen in 2001, Sir Allen went on to start Craigavon-based Almac Sciences.

Sir Allen, chairman of Almac, has donated £20 million (€29 million) to Queen's University Belfast through the McClay Trust.

The honour was a "reflection of the tremendous achievements of everyone who works within Almac", he said.

Island Oil bid exemption agreed

Shareholders in Irish exploration group Island Oil & Gas yesterday unanimously approved a resolution exempting Platinum Petroleum from making a bid for the entire company.

Platinum last month announced its intention to invest as much as £21 million (€30.5 million) in Island Oil and, under existing takeover panel rules, such substantial investments often require the company to make a bid for the whole company.

Workplace bullying

In a report in yesterday's Business This Week it was stated that the Health and Safety Authority handles 360,000 queries on bullying a year. The figure was incorrect and should have been 3,600.