Shares in Kerry Group plummeted during trading on the Iseq this morning after the Competition Authority announced it had blocked the company's €165 million purchase of Breeo.
The Iseq index of Irish shares was flat at 44.94.95 points at 1pm after a relatively quiet trading day.
Shares in Kerry fell 60c to €18.40 after today's announcement.
Fruit importer Fyffes was another faller after the company announced it had lowered its profit forecast for the year due to higher costs and currency fluctuations. Shares in the group were trading down 15 cent to €0.50.
Shares in building materials supplier Grafton, which today announced its interim results, were down 13c to €3.87. The company said this morning that pretax profits for the first six months of the year fell by 50 per cent to €53.4 million.
Other construction stocks also performed badly today with CRH down 13c at €17.97 and McInerney nudging up 1c to €0.30 Kingspan bucked the trend with shares up 18c to €7.88.
Financial stocks put in a mixed performance with AIB down 1c at €8.74, Bank of Ireland up 2c at €5.55, Anglo Irish up 15c at €5.85 and Irish Life & Permanent down 10c to €6.34.
Irish Continental Group (ICG) the owners of Irish Ferries, saw its share price rise 75c to €18.75 after it announced its interim results. The group said first half profits rose to €166 million from €163.2 million a year ago despite a rise in fuel costs.
Other movers on the Iseq this morning included Athlone-based pharmaceutical Elan, up 27c to €9.44, insurer FBD, up 20c at €14.20 and C&C which climbed 15c to €2.50 after the group said it expects to report stagnant first half earnings due to declining sales of cider in Ireland and Britain.
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