A roundup of today's other business news in brief:
Court orders directors to pay €1.8m
A High Court judge has made an order requiring two company directors to personally pay €1.8 million to meet debts due by their construction company.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday refused to put a stay on the order for judgment against Colm and Martina McNulty, of Kilreesk Lane, St Margaret's, Co Dublin.
He was ruling on proceedings brought by Doka Ireland Formwork Technologies Ltd, with offices at Tinure Industrial Complex, Monasterboice, Drogheda, Co Louth, against the McNultys over monies due for equipment and services provided to Limestone Construction Ltd, of which the defendants are directors and shareholders.
Survey boost for mine firm
West African Diamonds, the company with prospects in Sierra Leone and Guinea, has doubled its estimates of kimberlite at its Droujba prospect in Guinea.
The AIM-listed company, backed by serial entrepreneur and chairman John Teeling, said the additional deposits of the diamond-carrying rock were discovered after a geological survey commissioned ahead of identifying drilling targets.
The survey had also found four new potential kimberlite targets within "close proximity" to the Droujba pipe, the company said in a statement.
President's awards
A call for nominations for the President's Awards for Corporate Responsibility was announced in Dublin yesterday.
The awards, supported by Chambers Ireland and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, as well as Business in the Community Ireland, have run for the past five years and promote high ethics in public and corporate life.
Siemens to cut 6,800 jobs
Siemens will today cut 6,800 jobs and present a cost-reduction programme at its corporate telecoms unit as Europe's largest engineering group seeks to push through the sale of the loss-making business by the end of June.
The German company, which employs 1,100 in the Republic, has been trying to sell Siemens Enterprise Networks, which provides telecoms systems for companies, for more than 18 months without success.
Monaghan gold project
Conroy Diamonds and Gold announced yesterday it was moving to sure up production estimates from its Clontibret gold project in Co Monaghan.
The company, in its interim report for the six months to the end of October last year, said it was "taking the first steps" towards implementing a "scoping/prefeasibility study" on the unmined Clontibret site .
Pan Andean agrees terms
Oil and gas producer Pan Andean has finalised the terms of exploration joint ventures on two massive drilling areas in the central Peruvian jungle with Spanish oil company Cepsa.
The AIM-listed company said the joint ventures with Cepsa - an offshoot of oil giant Total - would reduce Pan Andean's financial exposure to the prospects - dubbed block 114 and 131 - while accelerating drilling plans in the high-potential blocks.
Ladbrokes shares surge
Ladbrokes, the world's largest publicly traded gaming company, rose the most in more than two years in London trading after a report that John Magnier and JP McManus bought a 3 per cent stake.
Ladbrokes rose 16.75p, or 5.5 per cent, to 324.25p , the biggest daily percentage gain since 2005.
- (Bloomberg)
