PROPERTY 'NOT FOCUS' OF IAWS REVIEW - Food and agri group IAWS, which owns Cuisine de France, has reported a 13.5% increase in adjusted pre-tax profits to just over €56m for the six months to the end of January.
The company says first half revenues increased 17% to €838m. The figures include three months of contributions from the US bakers Otis Spunkmeyer which IAWS bought in October for €460m.
Chief executive Owen Killian said the company had put its original businesses such as fertiliser and feed into a company called Origin. He said these businesses had enabled IAWS to invest in building up its food businesses.
Mr Killian said there was a 'tremendous opportunity' within the original businesses. Asked about the possibility of a spin-off, he said IAWS was looking at all the funding options for the business. But he denied that Origin's property assets were the focus of the review.
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NEWS IN BRIEF - Traffic figures from Aer Lingus show that February numbers were up 7.3% on the same month last year.
The Pensions Board says that research carried out on its behalf suggests 51% of workers have not been offered access to a pension by their employers.
