A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Federal Reserve upbeat on economy

The Federal Reserve says the US economy, driven partly by consumer and business spending, strengthened in all 12 of the central bank’s regions in April and May, while noting growth in many districts was subdued.

“Economic activity continued to improve since the last report across all 12 Federal Reserve districts, although many districts described the pace of growth as ‘modest’,” the Fed said in its Beige Book business survey.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said in congressional testimony yesterday that the recovery, while sustained by private demand, was not as strong as he preferred. – (Bloomberg)

African Diamonds to drill in Botswana

African Diamonds will embark on a $1 million drilling programme in Botswana in the next few weeks. The 800-hole drilling programme will focus on the company’s AK8, AK9 and BK5 diamond mines.

Chairman John Teeling said these mines were at an advanced stage of evaluation and the 800-drill hole programme would clarify size, grade and value of each carat. African Diamonds’ AK6 diamond mine is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011.

Separately, larger exploration group Tullow Oil said its Mahogany-5 appraisal well continued the successful appraisal of the area to the southeast of the Jubilee field offshore Ghana.

Firms paying bills 25 days late – survey

Businesses in the Republic paid their bills 25 days late in the first quarter of the year, while companies in the North were, on average, 17 days late, according to a new survey.

Information services company Experian said the payment performance of businesses in the Republic disimproved during the first three months, but was still slightly better than in the comparable quarter of 2009.

Firms in the North paid their bills on average 17.28 days beyond terms in the first quarter, compared to 20.142 days late in the same months of the previous year.

Experian, which analysed the payment records of thousands of firms, found that Kerry businesses were the fastest in paying their bills.