In short

Other finance stories in brief

EBS predicts SVR increases across board

EBS Building Society chief executive Fergus Murphy expects mortgage lenders to increase their standard variable rates in the coming months due to the higher cost of wholesale money.

The highest standard variable rates stands at around 5.7 per cent, while the lowest is around 5.15 per cent, he said. "But I do think it will all gravitate higher over the next few months."

Bank of Scotland raises broker rate

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has raised the standard variable rate it charges on mortgages sold through brokers by 0.1 per cent to 5.34 per cent due to the higher cost of bank funding.

The bank said variable rate mortgages represented a small part of its business.

BoI in legal action to recover 1.9m

Bank of Ireland has begun legal proceedings against a company and two of its directors for the recovery of €1.9 million arising from loans given by the bank for the construction of 15 houses in Roscommon.

The case is against Michael Macken and Patricia Watson, both of Sorrento, Creagh, Bealnamulla, Athlone, Westmeath, and a company of which they are directors, Shannonwoods Ltd, of the same address.

Hosting365 sells registration arm

Hosting365, the managed services and data company, sold its shared hosting and domain registration division, Register365, to Namesco for an undisclosed sum.

The purchase of Register365 will give Namesco, the fourth-largest domain name and hosting provider in the UK, a 35 per cent market share in the Republic.

Glanbia appoints Herlihy chairman

Glanbia has appointed Liam Herlihy as chairman, replacing Michael Walsh who has stepped down. Mr Herlihy has been vice-chairman since 2001. He has also been appointed chairman of Glanbia Co-Operative Society Ltd.

John Fitzgerald will replace Mr Herlihy as vice-chairman of both organisations. Glanbia said that it had appointed farmers Anthony O'Connor and Robert Prendergast as directors of the company.

BAA counts cost of T5 troubles

Airports operator BAA yesterday counted the cost of tighter security measures and money spent on the troubled launch of Heathrow's Terminal 5 as it reported a £51 million operating loss for the first three months of the year.

Earnings at BAA - majority owned by Spanish infrastructure firm Ferrovial - are down from £107 million profit last year.

ASDA to create 150 Belfast jobs

British supermarket chain ASDA plans to create 150 new jobs as part of a £20 million investment in north Belfast.

The company said it planned to relocate its existing Shore Road store to anchor a new mixed-use retail, residential and recreational development on the Loughshore Playing Fields on the Shore Road.

Connemara's positive progress

Zinc explorer Connemara Mining has reported positive progress at its drilling project in the Lough Sheelin area of Cavan and Meath.

The company said five of 11 drill holes had shown "significant zinc/lead mineralisation".