Ballygowan sale leads ISEQ march

Drinks company C&C lead the forward march in Irish trading this morning as the company's shares rose 41c on foot of news that it has agreed a €250m deal-soft drinks deal with Britvic.

As part of the deal, Ballygowan, the largest name in the mineral water sector in Ireland with a 50% share was sold to the British group this morning. The other well known names involved in the deal are Club Orange, Club Energise and MiWadi.

On the ISEQ-index shares at C&C stood at €12.39 by 11am leading Irish shares up 6.79 points at 9591.51.

Elsewhere profits at business support services company DCC boosted the group's shares which climbed 3c at €25.35.

Pre-tax profits at DCC are up 16.6% on last year with the group reporting €61.8m in pre-tax profits for the year ending March 2006, as sales rose 17.7% to just over €4bn.

The pre-tax profit figure included €24.5m from the sale of a site in south Dublin. Adjusted earnings per share were 1.8% ahead at 160 cent and a 31.41 cent dividend has been declared, giving a 15% higher total dividend of 49.28 cent.

Banking big guns reported a mixed morning as AIB and Anglo both climbed 17c and 11c at 22.33 and €16.50 respectively.

Meanwhile shares at Bank of Ireland and IL&P both plunged head first this morning with 21c and 37c losses at €16.19 and €19.53.