Europe News

"Whoever wins the (UK general) election is going to have to shortly afterwards give some program for getting the public finances back into shape," Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, told CNBC Monday.

Homeserve posted a 25% rise in first-half core revenue Tuesday and said it was confident of hitting its full-year target. CEO Richard Harpin told CNBC that customers are sticking with the home insurance group despite the downturn.

UK mortgage approvals hit a 2-year high in October, up 98% year-on-year, according to the British Bankers Association. "Money is beginning to come back into cycle. People are beginning to have some reasonable applications. But we have to put that into perspective, the market was dead 12 months ago," David Brunning, MD of Brunning Newman Houghton, said.

"Whoever wins the (UK general) election is going to have to shortly afterwards give some program for getting the public finances back into shape," Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, told CNBC Monday.

Homeserve posted a 25% rise in first-half core revenue Tuesday and said it was confident of hitting its full-year target. CEO Richard Harpin told CNBC that customers are sticking with the home insurance group despite the downturn.

Shares in BSS Group rose Tuesday as the UK plumbing and heating firm posted a 23% fall in first-half adjusted pretax profit but maintained its dividend and said it was confident on the second half of the year. CEO Gavin Slark told CNBC the group's strategy has been to protect and gain market share during the downturn.