Dublin, Ireland -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/26/2011 -- With around 2 million people in the UK wearing hearing aids and a further 4 million who could benefit from using them, Citymain, the UK's leading gadget insurance specialist has introduced a new insurance solution specifically designed to aid sufferers of hearing loss.

Hearing aids are costly and fragile pieces of equipment(1). Given their necessity to the everyday life of the wearer, it is important that they are properly protected. This protection scheme allows customers the flexibility of choosing between one, two, or three years of cover and includes coverage against theft, accidental damage, as well as options to include loss and breakdown. All policies include 30 days of worldwide cover(2).

"Customers should be given the option of protecting these types of devices because they have such a strong impact on the quality of life of the user. Being without a device for any length of time because a person can't afford to replace or repair it could cause distress," said Paul Kelsey, Managing Director of Citymain. "With our policy, customers are offered peace of mind that their damaged, broken or lost device can be fixed or replaced with a minimum amount of time and effort. And when taking into account the relatively high cost of such equipment, these insurance policies are not only necessary for the end customer, but also constitute a true sales support for hearing aid specialists."

Medical equipment insurances are developing quickly at the moment. Citymain, which is part of the SPB Group, has recently diversified its insurance offerings to include coverage for other medically related products such as spectacles and insulin pumps. The SPB Group recently announced its acquisition of Citygaranties, a French specialist for hearing aid insurance, which also covers spectacles. In Poland, SPB works alongside the leading distributor of auditory equipment, Geers, while in Germany, SPB Garant offers insurance for professional medical equipment such as scanners.

Paul Kelsey added: "Whilst average life expectancy levels are increasing generally speaking, many young people are also affected with hearing complications meaning this market offers many opportunities to Citymain and the SPB Group. With this new insurance product we are continuing to invest in a growing market in the UK and more widely in Europe."
With 26 years of experience, Citymain has established itself as one of the UK's leading independent providers and administrators of specialist insurance products. Citymain's core products include coverage for mobile phones, laptops, handheld gadgets, medical equipment such as insulin pumps and hearing aids, brown and white goods as well as purchase protection and price promise. Citymain also provides non insurance services such as a Technical Support Helpline for today's complicated gadgets and Identity Theft protection and resolution. All of the above products can be sold on a stand-alone basis, by retailers at point of sale or bundled with other services, such as credit cards and current accounts, to add further customer value. Citymain's head office and call centre is based in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, with operations also based in the Lloyds Building in London.

About Citymain
Citymain is partly owned by the SPB Group. Created in 1965, the SPB Group insures 18 million people for their goods or bank accounts, which makes us a European leader in affinity and gadget insurance. It employs 1,000 employees and posted a 2010 income of €156.1m. The group is independent and is 92% owned by the Guian family. The company is present in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia.

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Dublin, Ireland -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/26/2011 -- With just nine months to go to the official Olympics opening ceremony, London is bracing itself for the arrival of more than 14 million expected visitors. With hotels charging a reported five times their normal rates, 9flats.com, Europe's largest platform for "peer to peer" rental accommodations, is offering Londoners an innovative way to both welcome Olympic visitors and supplement their own personal income.

Through 9flats.com, Londoners can promote their homes easily and rent accommodation to interested visitors, allowing them to profit from the comfort of their own home. "Hosts" can let all types of accommodation, from single rooms to entire apartments and houses, thus offering Olympics visitors an affordable alternative to overpriced hotel rooms. A key advantage for 9flats hosts is the new seasonal pricing tool, which enables them to offer different prices during peak season and key events, including the Olympics.

"In the countdown to the Olympics Games, there is a constant focus on London and the UK in the global media. This exposure, coupled with other global events hosted in London, means millions and millions of people are expected to visit London in 2012. With 9flats.com, many more Londoners can take advantage of this boom in visitor numbers," said 9flats.com founder Stephan Uhrenbacher.

Additional benefits of becoming a 9flats host include free registration, secure payments, complimentary insurance and a customer service team available to support and advise 9flats' hosts with any difficulties that they may incur. Registering and promoting a property for London 2012 is a simple three step process: via www.9flats.com locals list their property, activate it to ensure it appears live on the site and finally, rent it out to members. 9flats.com hosts also give the keys directly to their "guests" and thus have an opportunity to meet with them in advance.

For more information and to rent out a room or property, please visit www.9flats.com

About 9flats.com
9flats.com is a market place for private accommodation to facilitate smarter and more local travel. Through the site, members can rent private places worldwide or let their own place for some extra income. 9flats launched in February 2011 and currently lists over 20,000 private accommodations in 50 countries, ranging from a place on a couch for €15 a night to a luxury apartment for €500. 9flats.com was founded by Stephan Uhrenbacher, one of Germany's leading internet entrepreneurs, who was involved in both the success of travel booking site lastminute.com and Europe's most popular local review site Qype.com, which he founded. The company is based in Berlin, Hamburg, London, Singapore and Valencia and currently employs 150 employees.

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London, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/11/2011 -- New research conducted by leading European market research consultancy Finaccord, has shown that the UK market for extended warranties and insurance for mobile gadgets is growing strongly with the trend expected to continue for years to come.

The Finaccord study confirms the strength of strategy employed by UK gadget insurance specialist, Citymain, which is part of the SPB Group. The SPB Group is Europe's market leader for gadget insurance with over 5 million mobile products insured.

Conducted in 20 European countries, the research shows that the UK leads the way with a one third share of expenditure on mobile gadget insurance in Europe, followed by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The figures are, according to the study, largely thanks to a continuing flow of innovative UK insurance product launches and consumers' general appetite for mobile gadgets. Indeed, sales of mobile devices in the UK rose from around €5.94 billion in 2006 to €7.29 billion in 2010 in spite of less than favourable economic conditions from 2008 onwards.

Potential for Substantial Growth
The Finaccord study also anticipates higher growth for the insurance market for mobile gadgets than for the underlying market for mobile gadgets themselves. A 50% growth rate across Europe is forecast between 2010 and 2014, which is projected to produce a market value of €2.17 billion. In the same period, the study estimates that sales volumes of mobile gadgets will increase from around 30.7 million to 37.2 million in the UK alone. This is being driven by growing sales of established mobile products, such as portable computers and media players, as well as new product launches such as the iPad and other tablet PC's which have continued to appeal to consumers in spite of the current financial crisis.

Distribution channels
Finaccord's research also indicates that specialist retailers of consumer electronics are more likely to have introduced mobile gadget insurance solutions than non-specialist distributors. In fact, over half of major British retailers have some sort of insurance program in place: of the 92 retailers surveyed, 48 were found to have developed their own mobile gadget insurance scheme. However, the study also revealed that while specialist retailers of consumer electronic products and to a lesser extent, department stores and supermarkets, remain the most important distribution channels, consideration must equally be given to the recent emergence of online insurance sales, which take place separately from the purchase of the underlying gadget itself.

"The strength of the UK gadget insurance market, outlined by the study's results proves that our group is strongly on the right path here in the UK. At a time when competition is fierce and economic conditions unfavourable, our products offer revenue opportunities to manufacturers and retailers as well as extra services to increase customers' satisfaction. We look forward to developing cutting-edge insurance solutions for our partners, enriched by the experience that our group gains all over Europe." said Paul Kelsey, Managing Director of Citymain.

SPB, Pan-European Specialists
Citymain is part of well known specialists in affinity insurance programmes, the SPB Group. The group has long anticipated the potential for insurances linked to hi-tech mobile gadgets and is now designing products for European wide brands such as Mediamarkt, Carrefour, Toshiba, Game Stop...

With 5 million mobile products insured in Europe (excluding telephones), SPB is today a market leader in mobile gadget insurance. The group is also very strong in the insurance market for mobile phones, with over 4 million handsets insured in Europe. This market is currently buoyed by the success of smart phones; their high cost and relative fragility encourage buyers to equip themselves with specialist insurance protection.

Notes to the Editor
With 26 years of experience, Citymain has established itself as one of the UK's leading independent providers and administrators of specialist insurance products. Citymain's core products include insurance products for mobile phones, laptops, handheld gadgets, brown and white goods as well as purchase protection and price promise. Citymain also provides non-insurance services such as a Technical Support Helpline for today's complicated gadgets and identity theft protection and resolution. All of the above products can be offered by retailers at point of sale, on a stand-alone basis or bundled with other services, such as credit cards and current accounts, to add further customer value. Citymain's head office and call centre is based in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The Group also has a presence within the Lloyds Building in the City of London.

Citymain is partly owned by the SPB Group. Created in 1965, the SPB Group today insures more than 9 million electronic devices across Europe. It is a worldwide leader in insurance products for banking and new technologies. It employs nearly 1,000 employees and posted revenues of €156.1m in 2010. The group is independent and is 92% owned by the Guian family.

The company is present in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia and the UK.

Finaccord is a market research, publishing and consulting company specialising in financial services. It provides its clients with insight into and information about major issues in financial services in the UK, Europe and major global markets, with a particular focus on marketing and distribution topics such as affinity marketing, bancassurance and strategic alliances.

Mobile Gadget Insurance in Europe and Mobile Telephone Insurance in Europe both published in July 2011, are reports about the markets for insurance policies sold in conjunction with mobile gadgets and telephones in 20 countries in Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK.

Note: Mobile gadgets are defined as camcorders, cameras, portable (laptop or notebook) computers and portable media players with no conventional mobile telephony facility while mobile telephones are defined as any mobile handsets that incorporate a conventional mobile telephony facility including 'smart phones'.

Mobile gadget insurance can cover one or more of accidental damage, loss, technical breakdown and / or theft while mobile telephone insurance can cover the same principal risks plus airtime abuse. However, typically, the extended warranty element is a more visible feature of mobile gadget insurance than of mobile telephone insurance given that the number of years of ownership is likely to be higher for most forms of mobile gadget than for mobile telephones.

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GE sells 18 of its 2.5-100 Wind Turbines to Valorem SAS and Ailenergie SA

Dublin, Ireland -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/15/2011 -- Located in one of France's strongest wind power areas, the Fere-Champenoise wind project will feature GE's (NYSE:GE) most advanced installed wind turbine technology. The project will help move the country closer to its goal to produce 23% of its domestic energy from wind by 2020.

GE began installing 18 wind turbines earlier this month. The wind turbines will be used at three sites within the Champagne-Ardennes region: seven units at Corroy, six units at Euvy and five units at Fere-Champenoise. Total capacity of the three sites will be 45 megawatts, enough clean, wind-generated electricity to meet the requirements of approximately 45,000 people.

Because of its high wind potential and large agricultural areas available for wind turbine installations, the Champagne-Ardennes region is particularly well-suited for the development of wind projects. More than 580 megawatts of wind power capacity already are installed here representing 25% of the region's electricity supply, according to Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables.

"GE offered a product, with the 2.5-100, that is a good match for this region," said Jean-Yves Grandidier, president and founder of Valorem SAS, one of the developers involved in the Fere-Champenoise project. "This turbine offers a very high level of efficiency and annual energy production, thanks to its 100-meter rotor diameter."

"Valorem has chosen GE´s most advanced installed wind turbine technology in terms of efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities." said Ricardo Cordoba, President of GE Energy Western Europe & North Africa.

Fereole, a special purpose entity owned by Ailenergie, and Corroy Energies, which is owned by Valorem SAS, are the purchasers of the GE 2.5-megawatt wind turbines. Valorem is an independent French project developer.

GE's 2.5-megawatt series is globally available. GE's 2.5 megawatt series wind turbines are being used at two of the world´s largest wind projects: at Europe's largest onshore project, CEZ Romania's Fantanele wind farm and at Caithness Energy's Sheperds Flats wind project under construction in Oregon – the world's largest wind farm. GE's 2.5 megawatt series is designed to yield the highest annual energy production in its class and builds upon the success of GE's 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the world's most widely deployed wind turbine with more than 14,500 now installed.

All press releases & statements can be found on our press room:
http://uk.geenergyeurope-pressroom.com/

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.ge.com.

GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With nearly 85,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy www.ge.com/energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy - GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas - work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.

About VALOREM S.A.S.
After 15 years, VALOREM is now a green energy producer. With more than 120 employees including engineers, landscapists, geographers, commercial agents and administrative staff, we have now mastered in the development of all forms of renewable energy production units: from prospecting to operating via the construction management.

We have opened our expertise to a new renewable energy package which includes photovoltaic energy, biogas and water power. We aim at developing the environmental potential to increase the goal of greeting non polluting energies in the French production. We are one of the last independent consultants specializing in renewable energies. This allows us to develop our work according to our own set of values: investing in research, creating environmentally responsible projects whilst working with the population and the local authorities. Our offices are based in Begles, Amiens, Carcassonne, Nantes, Rouen and Aix en Provence. We now open our business to Europe and other continents.

In 2011, VALOREM will own 100MW of wind farms and is already developing more than 1250 MW of wind energy and 1000 MW of solar and gas energy.

More information: http://www.valorem-energies.com

For more information, contact:

Frank Farnel
GE Energy
+33 6 18 42 20 67
frank.farnel@ge.com

Dr. Karin Funke-Rapp
GE Energy
+49 5971 980 2870
Karin.funkerapp@ge.com

Nicole Jung
Hopscotch Europe In One
+44 (0)208 1333140
njung@hopscotch.eu

Clementine Agron
Hopscotch Europe In One
+44 (0)208 1333140
cagron@hopscotch.eu

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