PRE-TAX PROFITS SOAR HIGHER AT FIRST DERIVATIVES - The Newry, Co Down based financial technology company First Derivatives has reported greatly improved results this morning. The results show an increase in earnings of almost 100%. The company is listed on Dublin's IEX and London's AIM.
Its CEO Brian Conlon says he has been very happy to see that the company has been able to keep up its good track record despite the recent turmoil on the financial markets globally. He says the type of software the company supplies to its customers is somewhat immune to the swings and cycles of the financial market as it provides services for long-term assignments and mission critical operations whereby business has to continue as usual irrespective of the fortunes of the various financial institutions. Mr Conlon also says that FD has also been helped by the fact that a lot of the services it provides are in the areas requiring high volumes of data, including programme training.
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PETROCELTIC EXTENDS ALGERIAN PERMIT - Exploration company Petroceltic has announced that it has been granted a permit to continue its exploration project at the Isarene site in northern Algeria. The company says the site could potentially contain over 2 trillion cubic feet of gas. Petroceltic's executive chairman Brian O'Cathain says that while a figure of 2 trillion cubic feet means the site is not the biggest gas field in Algeria, it would be twice the size of the Corrib gas field, or one and a half times the size of the Kinsale Head gas field. But he adds that it is still a very significant field in world terms.
He says that Petroceltic has been exploring in Algeria for the past three years and has now been granted a two year extension. He says the company is spending $15m on 3D exploration and says the results coming in from that are very promising. But he says that until the company starts drilling, it is very hard to say just how much gas the field contains. Petroceltic is due to start that drilling programme in the first quarter of 2009.
