Grafton down ahead of expected strong results

The Iseq index finished down 0.91 points on Tuesday to close at 5228.34.

Food group IAWS reported interim results for the first six months to end January with pre-tax profits up 26% to €34.8m.

Later, the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society (IAWS) which holds a 17.48% stake in the IAWS Group, announced it had entered into merger discussions with the Cork-based SWS Group.

Shares in the company closed up 5c to €9.80.

Building products manufacturer Kingspan reported full-year 2003 pre-tax profits of €65.4m, up 8% or €1.7m on 2002.

Earnings per share (EPS) before goodwill was 36c, up 1% or 0.5c.

Ryanair released passenger figures earlier which saw the company achieve 92% punctuality rates.

Its stock slipped by 1c to €4.78.

Three directors of technology firm Horizon sold €1m worth of shares today - or just over 14% of the share capital - to institutional investors.

The share price edged up 1c to close at €1.12

Building firm Grafton releases full year figures for 2003 tomorrow and analysts are expecting a strong show.

The company traded down 4c to €6.23 tonight.

Travel and Tourism data for Q4 last year are out tomorrow.

Hotel group Jurys traded at €9.95 down 5c ahead of the news.