THE markets opened quietly as Dublin took its line from lacklustre international bourses.
The printing group Adare had a bright start to the week as dealers and analysts had clearly spent the weekend digesting the upbeat message given to shareholders at the annual general meeting the previous Friday. Adare rose 7p to 442p on the back of news that the loss of its £5 million Microsoft printing contract would not be as serious as previously thought.
Adare had warned that 70 staff would have to made redundant at its Mount Salus subsidiary and had made provision for an exceptional cost of £500,000. However, the a.g.m. heard that 50 workers had taken early redundancy at a cost of £440,000.
AIB, which began the week with a 2p rise to 349p, denied on Monday that its Polish associate WBK Bank was about to buy two other banks in the former eastern bloc state, the Polish Investment Bank and Prosper Bank.
An AIB spokesman said WBK could have a possible interest in the Polish Investment Bank, but that discussions were at a very early stage. AIB traded up to 360p during the week before slipping back somewhat to finish the week at 358p.
AIB also received some positive broker comment during the week as Davy stockbrokers revised its profit projections upwards after the bank's good interim results. Davy predicts that AIB's profits will be £411 million this year compared to £372.6 million last year.
The board of the tea company Lyons issued a detailed rejection of the current offer from Unilever to the minority shareholders in the company. Unilever bought 75 per cent of Lyons from Allied Domecq, and has offered 323p per share to Lyons's 1,170 shareholders.
But this offer will have to be revised upwards to more than 385p, according to market sources. Such an offer would increase the cost of buying out the minority shareholders, who own 25 per cent of the company, from £24.2 million to £28.9 million.
Building materials group CRH announced on Monday that it had spent £245 million so far this year in a series of acquisitions in Britain, Europe, and the United States. Although most of the deals have already been announced, the total spent so far this year already exceeds the company's 1994 record of £159 million.
CRH opened the week at 602 1/2p and, buoyed in part by positive reaction to the acquisition information, the stock rose the 618p. The company was also helped by optimistic Irish Government predictions for the construction industry as a Department of the Environment report said the value of the sector should grow by 13 per cent this year to £5.7 billion.
Irish Life executives spent much of the week at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) in discussions on the future of their 430 field sales staff. Irish Life wants to introduce new working practices for the staff, a move that has been resisted. Following a series of meetings at the LRC, Irish Life lifted its threat to dismiss sales staff late on Thursday evening.
As a result of concerns over the industrial relations situation at the company, its stock price had a roller coaster week and closed on Friday at 240p.
