A round-up of today's business news

Davy Stockbrokers, the State's largest stockbroking firm, has completed consultations with staff on its restructuring programme and will be cutting 70 jobs from its 520-strong staff.

Davy confirmed yesterday the consultation process had ended. Most of the departures are from the private clients' division and almost all departing staff are at junior and mid-tier staff levels in the firm.

Among the departures are a small number of employees who bought shares in the firm's €316 million management-led buyout from Bank of Ireland in 2006.

They will have to sell their shares, as departing staff are not allowed to hold any shareholding.

The redundancies will begin next month and run until the end of the year. The remaining staff will have any earnings over €50,000 reduced by 5 per cent.

Providence offered licensing option

Providence Resources, the oil and gas production and development company, has been offered a three-year licensing option over eight blocks in the Kish Bank Basin off the east coast of Ireland.

Providence and its joint venture partner, Star Energy, a subsidiary of Petronas, the Malaysian national oil company, were given the licensing option by the Department of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources.

Providence will act as an operator on behalf of the partnership and is the only exploration company to receive an option by the department to further explore this area. Once the option period expires, Providence can then apply for an exploration licence if it so wishes. Providence recently announced it would embark on a €40 million gas drilling project in Algeria next year.

Petroceltic appoints director

Petroceltic International, the oil and gas exploration and production company, has appointed Alan McGettigan as finance director.

Prior to joining Petroceltic, Mr McGettigan worked for BG International, where he held senior roles in commercial and group business development. He also worked at Shell and BP, as well as spending four years as a management consultant at McKinsey Company.

Sales at retailer HM increase 3%

Hennes Mauritz (HM), Europe's second-largest clothes retailer, said sales rose more than analysts estimated in July after summer garments drew shoppers and new stores opened.

Sales increased 3 per cent at outlets open at least a year, the Stockholm-based company said today in a statement.

Same-store revenue gained 2 per cent in July 2007. Total sales rose 15 per cent last month, it said. - (Bloomberg)

Size of first-time buyers' loans cut

Irish banks are cutting the size of loans to first-time house buyers as they tighten lending terms in response to the credit shortage, Davy Stockbrokers said.

Banks, on average, are offering a single first-time buyer earning €60,000 a year a maximum loan of €303,000, down from €333,000 the last time the survey was carried out in October, Ireland's largest stockbrokers said yesterday, citing a survey it carried out of unidentified banks.

A couple earning the same amount would get at most a mortgage of €318,000, down from €355,000 .

"The results prove that lenders have both tightened their lending criteria and increased the rates at which they are lending," the firm said in a research note.

Ireland's largest lenders have raised rates and tightened loan-to-value ratios on mortgages amid the credit crunch.

The European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate a quarter-point since Davy carried out its previous survey.

The firm said it surveyed six banks, two building societies and one mortgage broker. - (Bloomberg)