Hi °C | Lo °C Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said he isn't preoccupied with pursuing Aer Lingus, even though he's planning to appeal an impending European Union ruling blocking a takeover.
"I'm not obsessed with Aer Lingus," Mr O'Leary said yesterday in an interview in Cologne, Germany. "Aer Lingus is small change." Ryanair heard from the EU Commission this month that its latest bid for Aer Lingus would be rejected on anti-trust grounds.
Vodafone wins bid for 4G spectrum
Vodafone led five winning bidders for faster fourth-generation mobile spectrum in the UK that raised £2.34bn (€2.68bn). Vodafone will pay £790.8m for the 4G spectrum, British regulator Ofcom said.
The bidders must pay any outstanding sums for the frequencies before midnight today.
Portugal may get more deficit time
Portugal may get an additional year to narrow its budget deficit as the country's economic outlook worsens, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said.
Mr Gaspar estimates the gross domestic product forecast for 2013 may be revised downward by about 1 percentage point in the seventh review of Portugal's bailout plan.
King defeated in push for stimulus
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King was defeated in a push for more stimulus this month as officials considered options to help the UK economy.
The pound fell after release of the Monetary Policy Committee minutes in London.
US house building hits four-year high
Work began in January on the most US single-family houses in over four years and permits for future projects climbed, setting the stage for construction to keep adding to economic growth in 2013.
Builders broke ground on 613,000 houses at an annualised rate last month, the most since July 2008.
Writedown dents telecom's profits
France Telecom, the former French phone monopoly fighting discounters at home, said a €1.84bn writedown on units in Poland, Egypt and Romania dragged down its 2012 profit.
Full-year net income fell to €820m on the impairment of assets, compared with €3.9bn a year earlier.
Irish Independent
