Other business news in brief

Complaint with stock exchange against Ryanair

A complaint has been lodged with the Irish Stock Exchange against Ryanair by Manifest, a London-based proxy voting agency which is a shareholder in the listed company.

In a letter addressed to the listings department of the stock exchange, Manifest alleges that Ryanair has refused to release the results of votes taken at its agms, saying that the information was available at the meeting.

Manifest says that “this approach is unhelpful to shareholders submitting votes by proxy and thus unable to attend in person”.

Manifest says Ryanair failed to comply with a provision set out in the stock exchange’s listing rules, which states that companies should ensure that information relating to proxy votes should be made available on a website.

Bausch Lomb axes 500 jobs in Scotland

A total of 500 jobs are to be axed with the closure of a contact lens plant in Scotland, the company announced yesterday.

Bausch Lomb said it planned to shut its facility at Livingston, West Lothian, and shift production to its Irish plant in Waterford and to Rochester, in New York.

Moving the “highly automated” lines would create 30 jobs in Rochester next year, but none in Waterford. – (PA)

Merrion reports 2.3m loss

Listed Irish drug firm Merrion Pharmaceuticals recorded a €2.3 million loss in the first six months of 2009, despite significant growth in revenues.

Interim results for the six-month period ended June 30th revealed that the firm’s loss increased from €2.1 million in the same period a year earlier as spending rose.

Revenue rose 378 per cent to €1.69 million from €354,000 the year before.

Merrion increased its spending on research and development in the six-month period, rising from €1.6 million in 2008 to €2.5 million this year. The company acquired a new facility as part of its move to expand its RD and develop more products.

“We worked hard at maintaining positive and productive partner programmes and our success is evidenced by the signing of a second development and licence agreement with Novo Nordisk in January 2009,” said chief executive John Lynch.

Connemara Mining strikes zinc deposit

AIM-listed exploration company Connemara Mining has announced that it has struck a high-grade zinc deposit, in the first drill hole of its 2009 drilling programme in Limerick. The hole is located 1.5km northwest of an earlier discovery at Stonepark. The 2009 programme is being operated by Teck Cominco, which also has a 75 per cent interest in the programme.