Elan leads remarkable rise in Irish shares

IRISH share values rose 23% in 2004, with Elan the runaway success that few if any predicted would be the stock of the year.

Elan was a recovery story in itself, gaining 258% to close out 2004 at €19.60, from €5.46 a year earlier.

Even with Elan out of the picture, the Irish market was still up 16% since the beginning of 2004 compared with 6% to 7% returns from Europe, the US and British markets. Most of the 9% to 10% out-performance over the other key markets was achieved from August on as the market responded to the positive economic outlook.