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

Waterford flying school to train Kazakhstan's flagship pilots

Waterford flying school, the Pilot Training College, has won a new €12 million contract with Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, Air Astana.

The school, which also has a base in Florida, will train up to 60 cadets annually for the airline.

Pilot Training College began training Air Astana students last year and since then eight candidates have graduated.

The new contract is estimated to be worth €4 million a year to the flying school, which concentrates its instrument training in Waterford.

Air Astana is a joint venture between the government of Kazakhstan and BAE Systems.

Fall in public tender notices

The Construction Industry Federation has claimed the Government's capital investment programme is running at less than half of that required to meet its commitments for 2011.

The research, which is published in the CIF's bimonthly barometer, claims that, based on the aggregate value of contracts notified up to June and assuming that all notified projects eventually proceed to construction, the Government is falling behind on commitments outlined at the end of June in its revised capital investment programme.

According to the May- June Public Construction Barometer, the number and value of construction tender notices fell in both months, with the figure of €97 million in June the lowest in the year to date.

Just €14 million worth of contracts were awarded in June, while most parts were without any new project award so far this year.

Revenue up 200% at Oglesby & Butler

Revenues at tool-maker Oglesby Butler jumped 200 per cent in the three months to June 30th compared to the same period last year, mainly as a result of new products.

In an interim statement released yesterday, the listed tool-maker said there had been a recovery in sales of industrial products.

Last month the company reported revenues of €7 million in the year to March 31st, 2010, a jump of 42 per cent.

State 'savings' hit drug firm's profits

Celesio, a German drug distributor, has said its Irish pharmacies are under pressure as income has declined.

Yesterday the distribution giant, owner of the Unicare chain, noted in an update that "Government savings" had hit Irish pharmacy profits. First-half net income fell to €98.8 million from €124.4 million a year earlier.

Celesio also owns Irish drug wholesaler Cahill May Roberts.