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

Windsor to invest €50m in business

Windsor Motors, one of Ireland's biggest and best-known motor dealerships, will spend €50 million on buying new outlets and revamping existing ones to cash in on rising demand for cars and vans.

Over the next 18 months, Windsor Motors will make three acquisitions in Cork, Airside and Liffey Valley, and will rebuild four dealerships in Galway, Deansgrange, Cork and Raheny. The expansion will create 150 jobs, bringing Windsor's total staff count to 500 over the next two years.

Irish car sales rose to a record high in January, and the motor industry is expected to benefit further when Government- sponsored savings schemes mature this year and next, according to the dealership.

Accounts filed in January showed that Windsor Motors's sales rose by almost 10 per cent to €173.99 million in the year to March 2005.

"The motor industry is currently performing strongly in Ireland and we are confident that it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future," said Michael Herbert, chief executive of Windsor Motors.

Statoil, Shell apply for joint licence

Statoil and Shell Ireland - the company behind the controversial Mayo gas project - have made a joint application for a licence to explore for oil and gas off the north-east. They are one of five applicants in the Slyne/ Erris/Donegal licensing round.

The Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey said yesterday that he was "pleased with the number of applications and the number of blocks applied for". He attributed this to a number of factors, including "the industry's confidence and commitment to exploration offshore Ireland, the current high energy prices and the work of the department in promoting exploration offshore Ireland".

Monsoon slumps on profit warning

Clothing retailer Monsoon delivered a double blow to its investors when it warned on profits and said its chairman was no longer interested in a takeover.

Shares in Monsoon slumped 9 per cent following the collapse of eight months of talks with Peter Simon over the potential purchase of the 24.6 per cent stake that his family did not already own.

Monsoon told investors today: "Since that statement trading has continued to be very difficult. Like-for-like sales in the past 10 weeks have been down 4 per cent and new stores have been disappointing." This meant that its results for the year to May 27th would be "adversely affected"- (Reuters)

Next's recent sales disappoint

Next revealed a big slide in sales in recent weeks and said yesterday the year ahead looked set to remain tough, but softened the blow with 2005 profits at the top end of forecasts.

Next, which sells mid-priced fashion and home accessories, said like-for-like sales in stores unaffected by new openings were down 8.9 per cent in the first seven weeks of the new financial year. That compares with a 2.9 per cent drop for the year to the end of January 2006.

Next announced pretax pre-exceptional profit up 5.8 per cent to £449.1 million for the year to the end of January. - (Reuters)

Morrison shows first full-year loss

Britain's fourth largest food seller, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, showed its first full-year loss yesterday and announced a three-year recovery plan to cut costs and boost margins.

Morrison, whose troubles stem from its 2004 takeover of the Safeway supermarket chain, said costs arising from the merger were almost £375 million in 2005/06, dragging the company £313 million into the red. - (Reuters)