Why the car insurance industry faces a difficult future June 12, 2014 The Competition and Market Authority's (CMA) proposed plans for change in the private motor insurance market aim to increase competition and reduce the cost of premiums for motorists. If implemented, they stand to do just that. This is great news for customers, but what does this mean for an industry that is already exceptionally competitive, [...]
Don’t count on brownfield: It won’t solve the housing crisis alone June 11, 2014 IN TODAY’S Mansion House speech, George Osborne is expected to outline new plans to encourage housing development on brownfield sites. The speech follows in the wake of an IMF report, which urged the UK government to relax planning rules that constrain both brownfield and greenfield development in order to sort out the grave imbalances in [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 11 June 2014 June 10, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Merkel warns Cameron over EU job Angela Merkel yesterday told David Cameron to stop making “threats” over the allocation of top jobs in Brussels, as centre-right EU leaders met to discuss the bloc’s future economic direction. The German chancellor is frustrated by Mr Cameron’s claim that the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as European [...]
AA races ahead with plans for £1.4bn flotation June 6, 2014 BRITAIN’S largest car insurer and roadside recovery firm, the AA, yesterday confirmed its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange in the second half of this month. The company’s current private equity owners want to sell off the stock to a buy-in team, backed by institutional investors, who will then take it public. They’ll [...]
AA confirms plans to float at £1.4bn valuation June 6, 2014 Britain's largest car insurer and roadside recovery firm, the AA, has confirmed its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange in the second half of June. The company's current private equity owners want to sell off the stock to a buy-in team, backed by institutional investors, who will then take it public. They'll be [...]
AA speeds up plans for a £4bn London float despite Saga flop June 5, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest car insurer and roadside recovery firm, the AA, is reportedly set to push on with plans for float that will value the company at around £4bn. The listing will be part of a process known as an accelerated initial public offering by parent company Acromas, which could be announced today according to Sky [...]
How Google’s driverless cars could save your life – and make you money May 28, 2014 WHEN the man behind the Segway, the battery-powered personal mobility scooter, died after riding one of his products off a cliff, it seemed like a grim end to yet another transport fad. After the Sinclair C5, the hovercraft, the poweriser and the Segway, it’s easy to be sceptical about the next sci-fi “leap” in transportation. [...]
Google to put driverless cars on the roads May 28, 2014 GOOGLE is rolling out 100 self-driving cars in California, in a trial the tech giant hopes will pave the way for widespread global use. After clocking up 700,000 miles of autonomous driving in adapted cars, Google is ready to put its specially-built driverless vehicles onto the streets. The prototypes have space for two passengers, operate [...]
How Google’s driverless cars could save your life – and make you money May 28, 2014 WHEN the man behind the Segway, the battery-powered personal mobility scooter, died after riding one of his products off a cliff, it seemed like a grim end to yet another transport fad. After the Sinclair C5, the hovercraft, the poweriser and the Segway, it’s easy to be sceptical about the next sci-fi “leap” in transportation. [...]
Reed Elsevier buys Wunelli to beef up its telematics business May 20, 2014 INFORMATION services group Reed Elsevier has bought UK-based Wunelli, a telematics provider, in a deal thought to be worth around £25m. Telematics, the practice of sending data about drivers to an insurance company to calculate an accurate personal premium, is growing in popularity in the UK. Reed acquired the company in a bid to beef [...]