Uniphar’s proposed €50 million acquisition of Cahill May Roberts is being funded by Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.

This is interesting in the context of a wider narrative that the main banks here aren’t lending in the economy.

This will increase Uniphar’s debt level to about €120 million.

With the combined entity projected to have Ebitda of about €25 million, that is a multiple of about 4.8 times.

This looks on the high side in the current economic climate but the company and the banks are obviously comfortable that this is manageable in the context of synergies of €10 million-plus a year from the merger of the drugs wholesalers.

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Accounts just filed for the Fitzwilliam Square Association Ltd, which maintains the “ornamental gardens” of the Georgian park in Dublin, show it slipped into the red last year.

The company made a loss in the 12 months to the end of January 2012 of €34,022. It closed the year with a deficit in members’ funds of €636.

Income fell by 42 per cent to €49,647 while its costs ballooned by 63 per cent to €83,669.

Income from “special events” roughly halved to €26,260, while it had to write a €20,000 cheque for “additional garden expenses”.

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Eircom’s new boss Herb Hribar has been busy with staff roadshows of late to explain its need to shed 2,000 jobs.

One proposal is that those reaching the age of 60 would be obliged to retire.

Ironically, Herb turned 61 in October and staff wanted to know if there was one rule for them and another for him.

The American has been in the job for just a couple of months and told staff that he intended to lead the company for some years to come.