Iseq closes up as Elan and Kerry advance

The Iseq index closed at 5219.89 today up 48.45 points.

Pharmaceutical group Elan was the biggest mover on the Iseq, up 95c to €12.85.

Shares in food group Kerry were up 43c to €15.85 on the Iseq today on the back of the news that the company has acquired Quest Food Ingredients from the ICI Group for $440m (€355m).

Kerry said that they expected the deal to be completed by the second-half of this year.

Analysts have welcomed the announcement stating that Quest Food compliments Kerry's food ingredients operation.

Building materials group CRH has reported pre-tax profits of €864m for 2003, up just 1% from 2002.

The company blamed currency movements which knocked €86m off the final figure.

CRH closed down 2c to €17.40.

Fruit importers Fyffes were down 7c to €1.65.

The company earlier reported 2003 profit before tax of €71.6m, an increase of 5.1% on the previous year.

Fyffes chairman Gavin McCann said the results were 'very satisfactory' and revealed that the group would sell a number of its property investments to realise a profit of €14m this year.

APN News & Media (APN), in which Independent News & Media has a 40.5% stake, announced a record net profit for the 12 months ended December 31 2003 of AUS $103.5M (€81.31m).

FBD was up 10c to €14.50 ahead of tomorrow's results, while Irish Life and Permanent which is also due to report figures, was up 8c to €13.33.