S&P upgrades AIB's outlook to 'positive'

NEWS DIGEST: Ratings service Standard & Poor's (S&P) has upgraded the outlook for AIB from "stable" to "positive", while affirming the bank's A/A-1 rating.

It said the change was partly a result of the significant steps that the bank had taken to ensure the integrity of its risk management practices and procedures.

Strengthened integration across the group and an expectation that asset quality deterioration would be manageable in the weaker economic environment also contributed to the change in its assessment of the outlook for the bank, S&P credit analyst Ms Michelle Brennan said.

"The ratings on AIB reflect its leading position in its main market, the Republic of Ireland, and its overall good performance track record, nothwithstanding the 2002 announcement of a major fraud in its US subsidiary Allfirst Bank," she said.

But she added that AIB's Polish operations had diluted the group's overall creditworthiness because they were operating in an environment of weaker asset quality and they were unlikely to contribute fully to the group in the medium term.

Elan chief buys 100,000 shares

Elan's chief executive, Mr Kelly Martin, bought 100,000 shares in the company on Tuesday at prices ranging from $7.01 to $7.05. This brings the total number of shares he holds to 257,500, or 0.07 per cent of Elan.

Tullow to buy North Sea licences

Tullow Oil is set to take a controlling interest in three North Sea natural gas exploration licences at a potential cost of €3.87 million.

The independent explorer announced yesterday that it had agreed to buy the licences, covering five blocks in the North Sea's southern gas basin, from BP for €3.17 million, and a contingency payment of €700,000, payable when Tullow gets approval from the British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to develop the blocks, which it hopes should come through early next year.

The blocks are part of the Thames field, in which Tullow already has a production hub.

Jetmagic adds to its weekday flights

Jetmagic, the fledgling Cork-based airline, has announced twice daily weekday day flights to Liverpool, Edinburgh, Paris. There will also be one flight to Paris on Saturdays. The new services will commence on September 15th.

Boots set to create 50 Irish jobs

British pharmacist chain Boots will create 50 new jobs with the opening of new stores in Sligo and Clonmel. The expansion, to be completed this autumn, will bring to 30 the number of Boots outlets in the Republic. The chain employs 950 here.

Crime costs small businesses €2bn

Crime is costing Irish small businesses a potential €2 billion a year, according to the results of a survey published yesterday.

Some 46 per cent of 385 businesses that replied to an Irish Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' association (ISME) poll said they had experienced crime during the last year.

The survey found the potential cost of crime to small business is €1.9 billion a year. ISME's head of research, Mr Jim Curran, said the average direct loss to respondents was €8,230.

On this basis, he said the direct costs of crime to the SME sector (made up of 170,000 firms) would be €643 million.

At the same time, the survey estimated that small businesses spend an additional €1.26 billion a year, or €7,455 each, on crime prevention.