Caitlin up despite earthquake May 7, 2010 PROPERTY insurance firm Caitlin has seen its figures boosted despite being hit by payouts for the Chilean earthquake. The company reported a nine per cent jump in gross premiums. The increase was 39 per cent in non-London underwriting hubs. Total cash and investments amounted to $7.47bn (£5bn) at 31 March 2010, compared with $7.69 billion [...]
EasyJet passenger figures hit as ash cloud chaos takes its toll on airlines May 7, 2010 EasyJet today revealed the true cost of the volcanic ash cloud which grounded planes for six days and left the airline industry reeling. The budget carrier had 3.49m passengers last month – down 7.6 per cent on April last year. The figure was also under the 4.3m expected before the eruption in Iceland. The spread [...]
House prices rising but slowdown may follow May 7, 2010 HOUSE prices have risen by 6.6 per cent in the past year, according to the Halifax house price survey. The jump represented the fastest annual rate of increase since October 2007. However, the mortgage lender said that the trend in recent months has been for price rises to stutter. Prices fell slightly in April by [...]
TICKETMASTER MERGER GIVEN GO AHEAD May 7, 2010 A merger between Ticketmaster and promoter Live Nation has been cleared for a second time by the UK’s Competition Commission. The watchdog cleared the deal in December, but reviewed the move after a challenge from rival ticket agency Eventim. It concluded that the deal would not lead to a “substantial lessening” of competition in UK [...]
Cameron: Labour’s lost the right to rule May 7, 2010 Lib Dems have awful night as surge fails to materialise 4:20AM EDITION DAVID CAMERON last night said Labour had “lost its mandate to govern” as early projections showed the Tories on course to become the largest party in Westminster. “Nationally, we have to wait for the full results to come out. But I believe it is [...]
Labour loses Basildon seat May 6, 2010 CONSERVATIVE GAIN Swing 7.5% CONSERVATIVE candidate Stephen Metcalfe has snatched back the Basildon South and Thurrock East seat from Angela Smith, a close aide to Gordon Brown, in a symbolic victory for the party. Metcalfe leapfrogged his rival with a swing of 7.5 per cent towards the Tories, giving him 43.9 per cent of the [...]
What an astonishing night May 6, 2010 4.20AM: WHAT an election night. The early results have been all over the place. Clearly, the public has rejected the Labour government and the Tories have had more votes than anybody else; but everything else is much more murky. Swings have been hugely variable. Here are a few early thoughts about what has happened. 1) [...]
Brown holds Kirkcaldy May 6, 2010 LABOUR HOLD Swing 3.3% LABOUR leader Gordon Brown held his Kirkcaldy seat last night. He polled 3.3 per cent of the vote more than in 2005, at the expense of the Scottish Nationalist Party. He claimed he would do his “duty to the country” as it emerges from the recession. He said he would form [...]
Opik falls on grim night for Lib Dems May 6, 2010 CONSERVATIVE GAIN Swing 13.2% THE unofficial Lib Dem mantra in the lead-up to the election was “I agree with Nick”. But yesterday voters made it clear they still disagreed with Nick Clegg’s Lib Dems. The party failed to make significant inroads despite the massive hype machine surrounding them. Their misery deepened when Lembit Opik, the [...]
Hopes of Conservative majority sees gilts surge as pound recovers May 6, 2010 GOVERNMENT bonds saw a small surge in the early hours of this morning on hopes of a Conservative majority that would take decisive action to reduce the deficit. IG Index’s David Jones said June gilts were trading 0.6 per cent higher, having traded as high as one percentage point up earlier, over fears of a [...]
