IRISH oil and gas exploration company Petroneft Resources is actively looking at potential acquisition opportunities in its core geographical market of Siberia in central Russia.

PetroNeft Resources has today announced that it has signed an Initial US$5m (€3.7m) debt facility with Macquarie Bank Limited.

CONSTRUCTION and engineering services group, Kentz is targeting new business orders of about $1 billion (about €740m) in value this year and the expansion of its international presence to four new territories.

Interactive mobile applications company Zamano today posted profit after tax of €1.1m for 2009, compared to a €3.8m loss for the previous year.

IRISH gold and precious metals exploration company Conroy Diamonds & Gold has marginally narrowed its half-year losses, for the six months to the end of November, to €183,126 from €202,464 for the same period in the previous year.

ANDOR Technology has marked its 20th year in existence with a strong set of results, including a 67% rise in pre-tax profit to £3.5 million (€3.9m).

THE board of independent directors at Irish e-learning company Thirdforce is recommending to shareholders a cash offer for the company made by two of its current management team.

PRIME Active Capital (PAC) has sold its Glasgow-based books and journals publishing division, Bell & Bain, in a management buyout deal valued at €2.74 million.

FIRST Derivatives, the Newry-based technology company, has made its second significant overseas investment in as many weeks with a $10 million (€6.6m) acquisition of New Jersey-based software firm, Reference Data Factory (RDF).

Irish oil & gas firm PetroNeft Resources has secured funding of $27.5m at its EGM to enable the company begin full production in the second quarter of 2010.

THE US-based Galveston Island gas field – in which Irish exploration company Providence Resources owns a 10.8% stake – has begun producing gas, it was announced yesterday.

AIM and IEX-listed international e-learning firm ThirdForce has said its profits fell from €520,000 from €800,000 in the first half of the year.

WORLDSPREADS, the financial spread betting and online share trading service, has reached agreement over the sale of its Irish division, for nearly €10 million, to some of its existing management team.

NEWRY-based financial services IT support company, First Derivatives is actively pursuing acquisition opportunities in the Australasia region, in the coming months, as it seeks to significantly expand its international presence.

NORTHERN Irish financial services IT support company First Derivatives has made its first acquisition — buying US company Marketing Resource Partners (MRP) for $20 million (€14.09m).

AIM and IEX-listed mining company Glencar has announced increased pre-tax losses for the six months to the end of June, up to $310,240 from $279,993 for the same period last year.

TVC Holdings today announced that it has acquired a shareholding of 11% in UTV Media for an aggregate consideration of £14.9m (€19m).

WorldSpreads Group has announced it’s full year s results for the period ending march 31 2008, revealing a large increase in turnover.

IRISH financial spread-betting group, WorldSpreads, has announced that it will begin trading on Dublin’s IEX market next month.

ThirdForce, the international e-learning company with listings on the AIM and IEX markets, has reported strong revenue and profit growth in what is described as "a year of transformation" for the group.

Spread-betting company Worldspreads, currently listed on the AIM market, is considering adding its listing to the IEX (Irish Enterprise Exchange) in the coming months.

ONLY time will tell how shrewd a move the €80 million purchase of Masstock was by Origin Enterprises in mid-January.

MERRION Pharmaceuticals said on Friday it had called off plans for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq due to tough current market conditions.

SHARES in Merrion Pharmaceuticals, the specialist pharmaceuticals company with operations in Ireland and the United States, began trading yesterday on IEX, the Irish Stock Exchange’s specialist market for small and medium-sized companies.

Shares in Merrion Pharmaceuticals began trading today on IEX, the Irish Stock Exchange’s specialist market for small and medium-sized companies.

GLENCAR MINING, the AIM and IEX listed company with gold exploration interests in Africa, said yesterday a preliminary independent resource study by SRK Consulting (Britain) has reported a mineral resource of 520,000 ounces of gold at Komana West in Mali.

ANDOR TECHNOLOGY, the IEX-listed maker of high-end digital camera equipment for the scientific imaging and spectroscopy markets, said yesterday that it is expecting to generate full-year sales of over £21 million (€30.3m) — around 10% up on the previous year.

ANDOR TECHNOLOGY, the IEX and AIM-listed maker of high-end digital camera equipment for the science and security industries, said in a trading update that good performance and sales growth in key target markets like Europe and Asia have been off-set by lower demand in the US and a weakening of the dollar.

Fencing and scaffolding company Siteserv has announced profits of €4.5m after tax for the year ended April 30.

Ormonde Mining has increased its equity interest in the La Zarza project in southern Spain to 100% in an acquisition which includes all land holdings at La Zarza held by joint venture partner Nueva Tharsis.

Glencar Mining plc, the AIM and IEX listed company with gold exploration interests in Africa, has reported on additional drilling results from its Komana West project in southern Mali.

ORMONDE MINING, the IEX and AIM listed exploration company, has upgraded its Barruecopardo tungsten mine in Salamanca in Spain to advanced project status following a successful second stage drilling programme.

ANDOR TECHNOLOGY, the high-end digital products manufacturer, officially listed on Dublin’s IEX market yesterday, with its shares debuting at €1.49.

Glencar Mining plc, the AIM and IEX listed company with gold exploration interests in Africa, has reported on additional drilling results from its Komana West project in southern Mali.

Origin Enterprises plc will today announce the pricing of its initial public offering of ordinary shares.

Shares in Irish-based investment group, Boundary Capital began trading today on IEX, the Irish Stock Exchange’s specialist market for small to mid-sized companies today.

SHARES in Boundary Capital, the investment vehicle controlled by Niall McFadden, will begin trading on the Dublin and London stock markets.

A MULTI-million euro plan for a major retail and residential development in a key location on Cork city’s docklands will soon be submitted to Cork City Council.

Grand prix winners at Ireland’s premier annual investor relations event are Anglo Irish Bank, CRH, CPL Resources, DCC and Newcourt Group.

CONVENIENCE food group IAWS will list its Origin Enterprises subsidiary on the IEX market in Dublin and the AIM in London and raise €100 million in the process.

There was widespread gains on the Irish Stock Exchange by 11.53am today, with the ISEQ index up 70.90 points to 9559.90.

IAWS Group plc has today announced its intention to seek admission for its subsidiary Origin Enterprises on the IEX market of the Irish Stock Exchange and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Gold exploration company Glencar Mining has announced a proposed placing of 22,600,000 new ordinary shares of 0.031 each at a price of 0.105p STG per share to raise £2.37m (€3.48m) before

IEX-listed gastrointestinal drug products company AGI Therapeutics has announced net losses of €4.3m.