ISEQ climbs despite Waterford Wedgewood fall

The ISEQ was up 20.28 points on this morning to 5328.86.

Waterford Wedgewood saw a sharp reduction in earnings and profits after what chief executive Redmond O'Donoghue called a "challenging" year.

Shares in the luxury goods group were down 1c to 16c after the company blamed the weak dollar and a sharp drop in sales for the fall-off.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were €68m, compared with €115m in the previous year.

Total sales were 12.6% lower at €832m, while there was a pre-tax loss of €44.9m, compared with a €7.2m profit a year earlier.

O'Donoghue said a dividend would not be issued to shareholders.

There has been little movement among the financial stocks. AIB is up 1c to €12.26; Anglo Irish Bank is static at €13.15 and Bank of Ireland is down 1c to €10.57.

Eircom was steady at €1.58.

Elan was up 47c to €18.40 after announcing the recruitment of a senior management team in preparation for the launch of its MS drug Antegren.

Ryanair reported successful figures on its credit card scheme. Shares in the budget airline were up 2c to €4.56.