Your letters, your views.

John Daly takes us through the highlights form the second half of the business year.

Kerry Group is set to spend over €500m on acquisitions this year, with chief executive Stan McCarthy saying the group is very busy in the takeover market.

Exposing Israelis as serial perpetrators of injustice is not anti-Jewish. Anyone who makes objective, rational observations in advocating basic human rights and civilised dignity for Palestinians is criticised. 

The Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine is next weekend and there are lots of drinks-related events. 

The Limerick-based exploration firm Circle Oil has commenced the search for a new chief executive after announcing that the incumbent, Professor Chris Green, intends to step down and resign from the company’s board. 

Circle Oil is to continue expanding its asset base in the Middle East and North Africa, both organically and via acquisition.

Circle Oil is set to further develop its Middle Eastern assets later this year with both drilling and farm-out activity planned.

Market share gains in Ireland and a number of its other major western European markets helped mitigate sliding sales volumes elsewhere in the continent for Dutch beer giant Heineken in the first quarter of this year.

Aogán Ó Fearghail says he is going to be an ambassadorial President.

Further to the column from the Arts Editor, “Stolen Moments in British Museum” (Nov 4) in which he demanded all artefacts held by the museum should be returned to the original owners, on Nov 24 Channel 4 and The Sunday Telegraph covered the likely discovery of the site of one of the wonders of the ancient world, the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International has marginally reduced its full- year production targets, due to a slowdown in production at its Egyptian assets.

US-based website publisher Squarespace has selected Dublin as the location for its first overseas office; a move which will create 100 jobs here.

I see photos of Middle-East rebels and am glad that our government is supporting them and that the Americans are bombing them...

More resources need to be given to state agencies such as Enterprise Ireland to exploit a potential €9bn trade link with the Arab world.

Social networking giant Facebook is set to create 100 new jobs at its Irish operations; a move which will take its total employee numbers here to 500.

Limerick-headquartered oil and gas exploration company, Circle Oil has secured $12.5m (€9.5m) in additional funding for its assets in Egypt.

US software and cloud computing company, Egenera has expanded its European footprint by acquiring Dublin-headquartered firm, Fort Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

Kerry Group has reported year-on-year revenue growth of 10.9% for the first nine months of this year, to €4.4bn, with trading profit up by 12.1%.

Datalex — the Dublin-headquartered international travel software company — has edged closer to profitability, by nearly eradicating its first-half losses.

Suzanne Joinson

Shannon Airport enjoyed its busiest ever month for business jet traffic with an increase of over 25% in June compared to June 2011.

Group sales at building materials giant CRH are up 4% in the year to date on a like-for-like basis, but the group’s earnings have been dragged back by under-performance in its European operations.

THE outlook for exports in 2012 is one of “sluggish growth”, the sector’s main representative body has said.

KERRY Group has reported a 7.9% year-on-year increase in overall sales for the first nine months of this year.

LIMERICK-headquartered exploration firm, Circle Oil has found additional oil content at one of its chief assets in Egypt, potentially increasing the size of the overall field.

MANAGEMENT at the exploration company Circle Oil has hailed “excellent progress” made in the first half of the year, with after-tax profits surging by 316%, year-on-year, to $8.7 million (€6.2m).

KERRY GROUP saw pre-tax profits jump by 8%, year-on-year, in the first half of this year to €175 million, with group revenue rising by 8.4% to €2.6 billion.

LIMERICK-headquartered exploration company, Circle Oil is aiming to almost treble its daily production levels within the next three years.

SHARES in Kingspan surged by an initial 9% yesterday, following the Co Cavan-based building materials company announcing a resumption of dividend payments to shareholders and a better-than-expected set of first-half financial results.

Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United have no intention of selling Dimitar Berbatov this summer.

ENTERPRISE Minister Batt O’Keeffe said he hopes a resolution can be found through discussion to a planning impasse that is threatening the creation of some 1,500 jobs in Cork.

THOSE who are into cruises will be thrilled by a Royal Caribbean International’s offering of a 14-night fly/cruise on Brilliance of the Seas sailing through the exotic Middle-East to the tropical waters of the Mediterranean.

World number seven Rory McIlroy will visit a Belfast-based specialist today to discover the extent of a back problem ahead of a maiden season on the US PGA Tour.

Aidan O’Brien is responsible for 36 of the 138 horses remaining in the Derby after the first forfeit stage as the Ballydoyle trainer looks to capture the £1.25m (€1.4m) Classic for a third time at Epsom on June 6.

A CO Cork company has scooped a major contract to supply large ice cream cakes to stores in a number of Arab states.

More than one and a half million people passed through Dublin Airport in November, an 11% increase over the same month last year, according to the Dublin Airport Authority.

THE former ‘capital of Cork’ appeared to have been short-lived, according to archaeologists who believe it was destroyed by an invading army.

FARMERS have had to cope with a bewildering range of bureaucratic and economic buzz words for decades.

More than 1.4 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in January, it was revealed today.