Market makes small advance

SHARES on the Irish market moved slightly ahead yesterday with healthy gains for DCC and CRH. This was despite the banks giving up significant territory on news that the EU has blocked a proposed dividend payment from Bank of Ireland to the Irish state.

Instead it is insisting the Government is issued with ordinary shares in lieu of the dividend. The ISEQ added 6.56 points to 2,973.98.

The repercussions of the EU blocking the Bank of Ireland dividend payment are effectively that the Government will now take a 15% stake in the country’s second largest bank, thus diluting the existing shareholders holdings. The share price slumped 7.8c to €1.18. AIB fell 3.2c to €1.08. Irish Life and Permanent, which is not involved in the NAMA scheme, gained 11.6c to €3.15.