Positive start for ISEQ
Ryanair shares were up 22c to €8.12 this morning as it announced a major expansion of its operations at Dublin Airport.
From April 2006 the airline will base five new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft in Dublin. These new aircraft will allow Ryanair to open up 18 new routes from Dublin to Continental Europe, generating over 250 direct Ryanair jobs.
The increase reflected a positive morning on the Dublin market which saw the ISEQ index rise 52.31 points to 7229.59 in early trading.
Meanwhile, Fyffes was down 3c to €2.30 as its director was today cleared of insider dealing as part of a share trade which earned profits of €85m.
Miss Justice Mary Laffoy told the High Court in Dublin that James Flavin did not act illegally in February 2000 when the multi-million euro deal went through.
Mr Flavin was a non-executive director of Fyffes when the company he founded DCC sold shares in Fyffes worth €106m.
One month later Fyffes issued a profit warning and the share price plummeted 25%.
Miss Justice Laffoy, in a 350-page judgement, said: “Mr Flavin was not in possession of price sensitive information, therefore the dealing was not unlawful.”
In other trading, scientific diagnostics company Trinity Biotech saw a massive increase of €5.33 to €7.08 this morning.
There were mixed fortunes for the financials. Irish Life & Permanent was up 11c to €16.35, AIB saw a 6c rise to €17.98 while Anglo Irish was up 3c to €12.20.
Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, was down 2c to €13.32.
Pharmaceutical giant Elan was up 59c to €10.94, while construction company Elan was up 30c to €24.60.
This morning's most traded shares were Ryanair, Paddy Power, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish and CRH.
