A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Property prices continue slide in first quarter

Property prices continued their downward spiral in the first quarter of 2010, albeit at a slower pace, according to a report published yesterday by property website myhome.ie.

The property barometer showed that asking prices across the State slid by an average of 3.3 per cent during the first quarter, compared to a fall of 6.1 per cent in the same period in 2009. This latest fall brought the average price nationally to €301,449, down from €342,666 a year earlier.

There was one exception to the downward trend. The average asking price for homes on the southside of Dublin city actually rose by 1.1 per cent.

Ryanair suspends phone service

Ryanair has suspended its in-flight mobile phone service after the service provider terminated its contract after 13 months.

Geneva-based OnAir said the two companies had failed to reach an agreement to expand the service to all Ryanair’s aircraft.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said the service, which allows passengers to text, receive and make calls for a premium rate, was very successful and the airline will be tendering it to other interested parties.

“We had a difference of opinion about bringing the system forward and that’s ultimately where it fell down.

“We wanted to expand further and, at the current time, they were just unwilling to commit to that type of expansion.”

Strike-off threat for Lowry UK firm

An English property firm of which independent Tipperary deputy Michael Lowry is a director has been warned it will be struck off the British registry for the non-filing of documents.

The company, Vineacre Ltd, had fixed assets of £90,420 at the end of September 2008, the date of its latest filed accounts. It had accumulated losses of £76,554 at that date.

The company is jointly owned by William Carroll, of Clongour, Thurles, Co Tipperary, the other director on the Vineacre board, and Mr Lowry, according to the company’s 2007 annual return.

Pfizer move to protect Viagra

Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, filed a lawsuit to prevent Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from selling a generic version of the Viagra impotence drug.

Teva, the world’s biggest maker of generic medicines, is seeking US Food and Drug Administration approval to sell a copy of the drug, whose chemical name is sildenafil citrate.

New York-based Pfizer contends the drug would infringe a patent that expires in October 2019. The complaint was filed on March 24th in Alexandria, Virginia. – (Bloomberg)