Ireland played a significant role in the Thailand cave rescue mission making three major contributions from supplying a diver, equipment, and the pump.

Persistent takeover speculation regarding brewer Scottish & Newcastle saw shares in the group climb 6% today.

A major UK engineering firm said today it had spurned a takeover approach worth £1 billion.

Sulzer Ltd said it reported new orders of 1.463 billion sfr for the first nine months of 2002, down 6% year-on-year, but up 1% adjusted for acquisitions, divestitures and currency effects.