A round-up of other business news in brief

Correction

In reports yesterday on page 1 and page 17, it was stated that a case taken against the widow of developer Liam Maye by Bernard Costello, a former business partner of Mr Maye, had been admitted to the Commercial Court. It was later stated erroneously that the case had been struck out. The case has not been struck out and is due to go to trial later this year. The Irish Timesapologises for any confusion caused by the reports.

7,000 mortgages issued in Q1 of 2010

Just 7,000 new mortgages were issued in Ireland in the first quarter of 2010, at a value of €1.22 billion.

According to figures compiled by the UCD Smurfit School and the Marketing Institute of Ireland launch, Consumer Market Monitor, there has been a 30 per cent decline in mortgages compared to the previous quarter with property prices falling by 3.4 per cent nationally. As a result, first-time buyers have been able get their foot on the property ladder. The monitor uses quarterly data collected from sources including the CSO, the Central Bank and the European Commission.

Tullow Oil buys Heritage Oil's assets in its Ugandan project

Tullow Oil has completed the acquisition of Heritage Oil's assets in its Ugandan project.

Prior to the deal, Tullow had an interest in three blocks in the Lake Albert Basin, and agreed to buy partner Heritage out of its share of blocks one and 3A in the licences. The 50 per cent interest cost Tullow $1.35 billion (€1.1 billion), with an additional contractual settlement amount of $100 million.

The deal was subject to approval from the Ugandan government. Conditional approval was granted on July 6th.

Tullow now plans to bring in China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and French firm Total to develop the Uganda project, with each taking equal shares in the licence.

Kentz wins PNG gas plant contract

Engineering and construction group Kentz says it has won a contract to design and build a construction camp for a gas conditioning plant in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

It is an integrated development of gas production, processing facilities, onshore and offshore pipelines and liquefaction facilities. Its capacity will be 6.6 million tonnes a year.

The project's partners include affiliates of ExxonMobil, Oil Search Ltd, Independent Public Business Corporation and Santos Ltd.

Nippon Oil Exploration, Mineral Resources Development Company and Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd all have a minority interest.

Manufacturing prices rise   

Manufacturing prices rose last month, but the pace of growth declined, according to data from the Central Statistics Office.

Factory gate prices were up 1.2 per cent compared with June 2009, down from the annual rise of 2 per cent recorded in May. This was partly due to a month-on- month decline of 0.4 per cent.

The annual price change was influenced by a 12.5 per cent rise in computer, electronic and optical products and a 10.4 per cent increase in dairy products. Bread and confectionary, recorded a 6.7 per cent rise.

There were declines in basic pharmaceutical products, preparations, beverages and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment.

The most significant changes were rises in wood and wood products, which grew by 3.3 per cent, a 0.8 per cent rise in meat and meat products and a 0.7 per cent increase in computer, electronic and optical products. This was offset by a 1.1 per cent decline in basic pharmaceuticals.