Sprint Nextel has agreed to purchase Virgin Mobile USA for $483 million, in a bid to strengthen its position in the fast-growing prepaid cell phone market. Kansas-based Sprint, the third-largest US wireless carrier, already has a 31 percent stake in New Jersey-based Virgin Mobile USA, which will now become a prepaid Sprint brand.

Spanish banking group Santander has reported a 30 per cent jump in pre-tax profits for its UK arm in the first half of this year.

Global life and material sciences company Royal Dutch DSM has sold its wholly-owned subsidiary DSM Energy to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) for an enterprise value of Ôé¼285 million, it was announced today.

Biotechnology group Amgen has signed a deal with UK pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), it was announced yesterday.  Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen will team up with GSK to jointly commercialize Amgen's hotly-anticipated experimental osteoporosis drug denosumab in Europe and emerging markets. The deal marks a significant move into primary care drugs and international markets for Amgen, which is attempting to increase sales following criticism for over-pricing.

First-quarter net profits for Irish airline Ryanair have leapt a massive 550 per cent on the back of lower fuel prices, it announced yesterday.

US biotechnology group Amgen has signed a deal with UK pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), it was announced yesterday.

First-quarter net profits for Irish airline Ryanair have leapt a massive 550 per cent on the back of lower fuel prices, it announced yesterday.

US and Canadian courts are expected on Tuesday to approve Ericsson's $1.1 billion bid for most of the core wireless assets of Canadian telecoms equipment company Nortel Networks.  The deal, which includes NortelÔÇÖs profitable CDMA wireless equipment operations and its next-generation long-term evolution (LTE) assets, will gain Swedish firm Ericsson important CDMA contracts with network operators Verizon, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, Bell Canada and Leap Wireless.