A roundup of today's other business news in brief

NCB appoints Ben Conte to board

Irish stockbroker NCB, which is part-owned by Sean Quinn, has appointed Ben Conte as a new non-executive director to its board. His appointment was announced to staff yesterday.

Mr Conte is an American citizen and was the head of Susquehanna International’s European operations in Dublin’s IFSC, which employs about 150 staff, from 2002 to 2006.

Susquehanna is a leading US-based market maker and trader in securities, commodities. Most recently, Mr Conte was the global head of trading and operations at UK carbon developer EcoSecurities.

Toyota to recall faulty cars

Toyota, the world’s largest car maker, will recall about 1.13 million Corolla and Matrix cars for an engine defect that US regulators said could cause stalling “at any speed without warning”.

Toyota said it would recall the vehicles for the model for the years 2005 to 2008 in the US and Canada following at least three reported accidents linked to the engine defect.

The action adds to record recalls in the past year by Toyota.

These include more than eight million vehicles worldwide for flaws related to unintended acceleration by the cars. – (Bloomberg)

German consumer confidence ‘to rise’

German consumer confidence will rise next month as stronger economic growth and declining unemployment boost income expectations, GfK has said.

GfK’s consumer sentiment index, based on a survey of about 2,000 people, will climb to 4.1 from a revised 4 in August, the Nuremberg- based market research company said yesterday.

German households may grow more confident after the economy expanded at a record pace in the second quarter and business confidence surged in August. – (Bloomberg)

An Post's 87% mail delivery rate

Some 87 per cent of mail was delivered within one working day during the period April to June this year, according to ComReg. This compares to 84 per cent in the previous quarter. In its quarterly report the regulator found that 98.9 per cent of all post was delivered within three working days, slightly lower than the target of 99 per cent set by ComReg.

Imagine WiMax sponsorship deal

TV3 has signed a €800,000 sponsorship deal with internet provider Imagine WiMax for its coverage of the Uefa Europe league 2010/11 season.

The 10-month sponsorship deal will include live matches and highlights programmes.

TV3 has exclusive rights to broadcast 15 matches during the Uefa Europa League this season.