Paddy Power and Anglo Irish Bank lead the way

The ISEQ index finished up 10.61 points at 5071.19.

It was a busy day on the Irish Stock Exchange with companies releasing full and half-year bulletins and trading statements.

Shares in Unidare traded up 5c to €1.60. Earlier, chairman Jack Hayes expressed confidence that the manufacturing and distribution group's half-year results will be broadly in line with 2002's.

He told the company's AGM that Unidare's strategy continues to be to add value, and improve the worth of its businesses to maximise shareholder value.

Building group Readymix was down 15c to €1.90 on the back of what it termed a "challenging" year in 2003.

Currency fluctuations - in particular the strengthening euro against sterling - hindered profitability.

Bookmakers Paddy Power saw its share price rocket 46c to €8.01 after releasing record figures for 2003.

Turnover, operating profit and earnings per share were all up significantly and chief executive John O'Reilly also reported its expansion into the UK on track.

Irish Continental Group was down 27c to €11.85.

Earlier Irish Ferries announced that 450 staff were to be laid-off as three of its four ships have had services temporarily suspended.

Financials recovered after a troubling few days.

Allied Irish Banks, who saw a €1 wiped off its stock yesterday, gained 5c to close at €12.35, while Anglo Irish Bank was the biggest mover on the exchange, up 49c to €13.07.

Bank of Ireland was up 8c to €10.83.