Elan big ISEQ mover on painkiller trial success

Irish pharmaceutical giant Elan saw its share price advance 57c to €5.97 on the ISEQ today as news of its intention to launch a new painkiller to the US market by Spring 2005 reached the market.

The company reported positive results after Phase III clinical trails for its ‘Prialt’ product proved successful. Prialt will be available on a limited basis to select pain centres in the US from Q1 2004.

Building group Abbey PLC saw its share price continue to head north on Wednesday after yesterday’s 42c rise.

The company is to announce details tomorrow of its Interim Results for the six months ended October 31 2003.

It ended the day at €7.50 up a further 20c from yesterday’s closing price.

This morning CRH issued a trading statement saying that 2003 profits will be ahead of expectations and broadly in line with those recorded in 2002.

The weakening dollar continues to affect the company’s substantial US interests while its Irish operation performed strongly.

Currency fluctuations accounted for €86m last year representing 10% of 2002 profits. Its share price closed down 2c at €16.95.

Ryanair is unlikely to get a ruling on its Charleroi, Brussels operation from the EU before the end of January.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary has already indicated that the decision is likely to be unfavourable to the low fares airline.

Earlier today, the company issued passenger data for 2003 which were broadly in line with analysts’ expectations.

Figures showed that it carried over 21m passengers in 2003 while passenger numbers in December 2003 alone were up 53% to 2m on the December 2002 figure.

The ‘load factor’ was down slightly from 85% to 83%.

Ryanair’s share price closed up 12c at €6.71.