A round-up of the rest of today's business news in brief

Businesses expect prices to fall in 2009

Privately-owned Irish businesses expect prices to fall here by 1.5 per cent in 2009, marking the first time in the history of the Republic that the country will have experienced deflation.

A global business survey by accountants Grant Thornton found that 40 per cent of private companies in Ireland expect their turnover to fall; 31 per cent anticipate their selling prices will be reduced; and almost half of all businesses predict that their profits will decline.

Just 22 per cent of private businesses here expect profits and turnover to increase in 2009, with only one in five anticipating a rise in selling prices.

The only positive was that Irish businesses expect exports to rise this year.

“With the euro having increased significantly against sterling over the past 12 months, it’s hard to work out the source of this optimism,” said Patrick Burke of Grant Thornton.

Jobless figures double in 12 towns

Twelve towns have seen the number of residents signing on for unemployment benefits double during 2008.

Portlaoise, Monaghan, Westport and Navan were among the towns where the numbers signing on doubled over the last 12 months.

Unemployment rose to a 10-year high of 8.3 per cent in December, with 291,000 unemployment claimants on the Live Register.

Of these, 22,777 signed on for the first time last month. The most severe job losses in percentage terms were in the midwest region where the numbers on the live register rose by 9.3 per cent.

Big Anglo investor sells 11.5m shares

One of the largest shareholders in Anglo Irish Bank, asset manager Invesco, has sold 11.5 million shares, or about 1.5 per cent of the shares in the bank, ahead of the extraordinary general meeting this Friday to approve the Government’s investment of €1.5 billion in the bank through preference shares for a controlling stake.

In a notification to the stock exchange, Anglo said that Invesco reduced its shareholding in the bank last Friday. Following the transaction, Invesco’s shareholding in Anglo has fallen to 5.3 per cent from 6.89 per cent and the firm has moved below US investment firm Janus to become Anglo’s third largest shareholder.

Fewer consumers in December 2008

Fewer consumers visited shopping centres and city centre stores in December 2008 than in December 2007, according to footfall statistics compiled by Experian.

Shopper numbers were down 2.3 per cent on the previous December, after a grim year for retailers in which cautious consumers cut back on spending. A late surge in shoppers in the final week before Christmas was not enough to halt the decline, according to Experian.

However, footfall in Northern Ireland ncreased in the run up to Christmas.