PROVIDENCE MOVE MAKES IT IRELAND'S BIGGEST INDIGENOUS GAS PRODUCER - Providence, the oil and gas company listed in Dublin and London, says it has exercised its option to buy a 40% interest in Kinsale Head, from Petronas. As part of the deal it gets a 40% interest in the Seven Heads gas field. The move will see Providence's production double to over 4,000 barrels a day, open the way to new storage and trading opportunities, and makes it Ireland's biggest indigenous gas producer. The deal has been valued for now at $125m, but it is expected to grow in value.
Providence's chief executive Tony O'Reilly says the deal represents a huge development for the company. He says it will also help address the security of supply of gas and oil for the country as a whole.
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INITIATIVE TO SUPPORT IRISH FARMING AND DAIRY JOBS - A new packaging mark has been developed by the National Dairy Council. It will guarantee consumers that the milk or cream they are buying has been farmed and processed in the Republic. The mark is being phased in on packaging from next month, and big names in dairy, like Glanbia, Kerry and Connacht Gold, support it.
Helen Brophy, chief executive of the National Dairy Council, says that when people buy Irish dairy goods they are supporting 2,193 Irish dairy farm families and 2,483 jobs in Irish dairies and co-ops. She said the new packaging mark allows consumers to select products which contribute to the country's tax returns, which contribute to the economy as a while and which also contribute to local communities. She hopes the initiative will be extended next year to include other dairy products such as cheese.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Johnson and Johnson has cut the amount it will pay for its 18.4% stake in Irish drugmaker Elan by £115m to £885m. The new deal resolves a dispute between Elan and its US partner Biogen, with which it sells the multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri in a 50-50 partnership. But the deal shows that the original transaction was not as good for Elan's shareholders as the company had originally represented. In July, Johnson and Johnson, which is one of the biggest healthcare companies in the world, agreed to take an 18.4% stake in Elan for $1 billion, or $9.32 cents a share. And it agreed to pay $500m for a majority stake in Elan's portfolio of experimental Alzheimer's drugs.
*** Denis O'Brien, the second biggest owner of Independent News and Media shares, has said shareholders should be given the chance to vote on any refinancing that would limit their shareholding. In a statement yesterday, he said they have have already seen 90% of their value wiped out. He has asked that an additional resolution be voted on at an EGM - returning power to shareholders.
*** Northern Ireland is to become one of the biggest producers of daily newspapers in Europe. Independent News and Media has signed a £40m sterling deal with London-based papers the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mirror. Under the deal, the Daily Telegraph will be printed in Newry for the next 15 years, and the Mirror will be produced in Belfast until 2016.
*** Later today a judge will decide whether to extend examinership to Liam Carroll companies or begin winding up proceedings. The seven companies in the Zoe Group had applied for court protection after ACC bank called in loans of €136m. Carroll's companies have combined debts of €1.2 billion.
*** On the currency markets the euro is trading this morning at $1.4630 cents and 87.87 pence sterling.
