In short

A round-up of today's other business stories in brief ...

Number of people saving on the increase

The number of people putting money aside in savings accounts is rising, according to a new survey.

The second EBS Consumer Savings Sentiment study shows that people’s attitudes to saving have shifted dramatically.

According to the survey, the number of people saving a set amount of money each month in dedicated savings accounts rose by 4 per cent from 36 per cent in August to 40 per cent in January.

During the same period the number of people who claimed they never saved money declined from 23 per cent to 17 per cent.

Over 1,000 people were surveyed for the research by Red C between the January 26th and 28th.

Average annual savings by all adults is €3,942, up from €3,543 in August 2008. The number of respondents who said they saved more than €3,000 a year rose by 8 per cent to 32 per cent.

Twenty-five jobs to go at Zavvi outlets

Twenty-five people are to lose their jobs after the liquidator of troubled music and entertainment chain Zavvi decided to close its outlets in Kilkenny and Arklow, Co Wicklow.

Ernst Young has also decided to close another 17 outlets in the UK today with an overall loss of 267 jobs.

Ernst Young said the group’s remaining 31 outlets would continue to trade and that it remains hopeful a sale of some or all can be achieved. Joint administrator Tom Jack said he was in “detailed discussions with two interested parties”.

Last month over 110 Irish jobs were saved after five Irish Zavvi outlets were sold to rival HMV. Zavvi operates three remaining stores here in Cork, Athlone and Sligo.

Zavvi was the UK’s largest independent entertainment retailer, with 114 stores there and 11 in the Republic.

New rules for directors’ loans

The Financial Regulator is to introduce new rules for directors’ loans following the discovery of significant director loans at Anglo Irish Bank that were not disclosed to auditors or shareholders.

Under the new rules, which will come into force on March 1st, directors will have to give details of the “maximum amount of loans from that credit institution outstanding at any time” during the financial year, including connected loans.

Directors will also have to give an end-of-year balance for their loans with that bank.

The former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Seán FitzPatrick resigned in December when it emerged that he effectively hid details of an €84 million debt to the bank from shareholders and had not disclosed loans over an eight-year period.

Ergo opens €1.1m R&D facility

Technology services firm Ergo has established a €1.1 million R&D facility at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) which will create 22 jobs.

The new facility, which opened yesterday and is located in an incubation centre at DkIT, will develop software for the financial services sector. The €1.1 million investment over the next two years includes supports of €400,000 from Enterprise Ireland.

Ergo, founded in 1993 as a manufacturer of printer components, has reinvented itself. The firm, based in Dublin, now employs over 130 staff selling hardware, software, managed services and staffing services.

Conroy shares boosted by gold find

Shares in Conroy Diamonds Gold Plc, gained the most in more than five years in London trading after it said it found a new gold-in-soil anomaly.

Conroy increased 1.25 pence, or 63 per cent, to 3.25 pence. The stock has risen 53 per cent this year, giving the company a market value of £3.4 million. The gold-in-soil values found at a site in Co Armagh are the highest the company has discovered in its Irish licence area. – (Bloomberg)