A roundup of today's other stories in brief

Ryanair picks Birmingham as 25th base

Ryanair has chosen Birmingham Airport as its 25th base and yesterday said it would launch 20 new routes from there over the next six months.

Ryanair's decision comes four months after the Dublin Airport Authority sold its 24.125 per cent stake in Birmingham Airport for €302 million.

"It is significant, but no surprise, that this agreement was reached after the DAA sold its stake," Ryanair said. "Birmingham is now a much more competitive and faster-growing airport without the dead hand of the DAA."

Dublin strong in property report

Dublin ranks as Europe's third-strongest city for commercial property investment, while there were near record levels of office building in the capital last year.

Multinational real estate firm, Knight Frank, rates Dublin as the third-best market in Europe, behind London and Stockholm, for office and commercial property investment in its winter 2007/8 commentary.

Rents in the city ran at €646 a square metre a year, while vacancy rates dropped to 11.8 per cent in the final three months of 2007, their lowest for almost two years.

Ovoca welcomes silver mine study

Ovoca Gold has welcomed the findings of a feasibility study for its planned silver mine in Goltsovoye in Russia, saying that the mine should earn between €76 and €129 million in its first three years of operation. The mine will cost some €74 million to build, according to the study.

Greencore finance officer named

Food group Greencore has appointed a new senior executive. Geoff Doherty (36) has been named as chief financial officer and chief executive of its property and agribusiness activities. Mr Doherty replaces Patrick Coveney, who took over as group chief executive designate in December.

Minco to continue Limerick drilling

Minco Plc has announced additional results from its zinc drilling operations on its Co Limerick project at Tobermalug, near Caherconlish. 68 per cent of its drills struck base metal mineralisation. Minco will continue drilling to the south of its prospect, it announced.

ACCBank to sponsor regatta

ACCBank will sponsor 2008 Cork Week, the State's biggest sailing regatta, which is expected to attract about 500 boats and 5000 sailors to Ireland's southern waters this year.

Cork Week is hosted by the Royal Cork Yacht Club and will be held from July 12th to 18th.

Awards for architecture firm

Irish architecture firm Douglas Wallace has won two categories in an international store design competition for its work at a Dublin branch of Go Fresh and the interior design of Peter Mark's Mary Street salon.

The awards, from the US Institute of Store Planners and VM + SD magazine, also recognised new fit-outs at the landmark New York department stores Macys and Bloomingdales.

New head for GE Money division

GE Money Ireland has announced the appointment of a new head for its risk division.

Deirdre Hannigan, who was a member of Bank of Ireland's risk management executive, has been appointed chief risk officer at GE Money Ireland.

Shannon chief predicts good jobs growth

The chief executive of Shannon Development said yesterday that hundreds of jobs in a healthy pipeline of job announcements are to be confirmed for the Shannon Free Zone in the coming months.

At a press briefing in Limerick yesterday to launch the company's end-of-year statement, Kevin Thompstone said: "I am confident that we will deliver some significant results in jobs, both in manufacturing and in the international services area, in 2008."

The company's end of year statement shows, however, there was a net jobs loss in the Shannon Free Zone last year of 131, as a number of manufacturing companies shut down resulting in 485 job losses.

During the year, 345 jobs were created in a number of new companies in the zone.

EMI to take out  up to 2,000 jobs

EMI Group , the music company bought last year by private-equity financier Guy Hands, will eliminate as many as 2,000 jobs, or 36 per cent of the workforce, after a slump in music sales led to a record loss. The revamp will help cut as much as £200 million (€265 million) in costs a year, EMI said in an e-mailed statement. Hands will trim between 1,500 and 2,000 of EMI's 5,500 jobs.

Robbie Williams and pop band Coldplay are spearheading the protest of artists against Hands's overhaul efforts. Williams's manager said last week the singer may withhold his next album. The cutbacks focus on recorded music, which is less profitable than publishing. Hands wants to make more money from the back catalogue at EMI, the label of Norah Jones and the Beatles, by digitizing recordings. - (Bloomberg)

Microsoft in new EU antitrust row

Microsoft is facing two new antitrust probes in Europe as regulators opened another front in the dispute three months after resolving a similar fight.

The European Union will investigate whether the world's largest software maker is using its dominance in word processing and spreadsheets to thwart rivals. It also will review whether Microsoft illegally tied an internet browser to its Windows operating system.

The investigations complicate Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer's efforts to resolve disputes with the European Commission.

Microsoft established operations in Ireland in 1985 and now has four local divisions that employ over 1,500 staff directly with another 500 indirectly. - (Bloomberg)

Debenhams routed despite good sales

Debenhams defied expectations of a fall in sales in the run-up to Christmas, but the department store chain endured another rout on the stock market as analysts accused it of "subtly downgrading" profit expectations.

The share price decline overshadowed improved trading, which was led by the internet arm and upmarket labels, allowing Debenhams to post a gain in like-for-like sales of 2.2 per cent, while underlying sales were flat in the 18 weeks to January 18th. - (Financial Times service)

Reliance covers Ipo in seconds

Reliance Power yesterday raised $3 billion (€2.02 billion) in one minute, fully covering its initial public offering in its opening seconds as institutional investors jostled to get a share of a company that touted itself as India's flagship power-generation operator.

The company finished the first day of what is India's largest Ipo with demand for 10.6 times the number of shares available, indicating the stock will be sold at Rs450 (€7.73) a share, the top of the price range.

The Ipo opens the way for what is tipped to be bumper year for Indian issues. - (Financial Times service)