THE DAILY BRIEFING: Paddy Power Betfair up 16% despite customers winning more than £20m at the Cheltenham Festival

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BOOKIES WIN Profits at bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair have soared despite customers winning more than £20million at the Cheltenham Festival.

Revenues rose 16 per cent in the first three months of the year to £339million while profits jumped 36 per cent to £43million. 

Shares fell 2 per cent, or 180p, to 8990p.

Winner: Revenues at the Irish gambling giant rose 16 per cent in the first three months of the year to £339m while profits jumped 36 per cent to £43m

PRICE RISE Direct Line has pushed up the cost of car insurance by 9.4 per cent as it fights to hold its own in an increasingly competitive market.

The total value of premiums held by the insurer, which owns Churchill and Privilege, jumped 4.2 per cent to £777.8million in the first three months of the year. 

The shares rose 0.73 per cent, or 2.7p, to 371p.

GOLD RUSH The rise in the price of gold has led Glencore to consider cashing in and selling its 70 per cent stake in the Vasilkovskoye mine in Kazakhstan. The mine is worth in excess of £1.2billion, a source said.

Glencore’s shares fell 3.17 per cent, or 4.75p, to145.05p.

ONLINE EXPANSION Standard Life is to acquire 160,000 customers after buying Axa’s financial adviser business Elevate.

It will mean Standard Life will have £36.4billion assets under administration. Axa Elevate is an online service which financial advisers use to manage their clients’ savings.

CHEERED ON Newbury Racecourse swung back into the black last year as a record 210,000 spectators attended events at the venue.

Revenues for 2015 rose 15 per cent to £14.3million and profits came in at £1.6million following a loss of £1.5million the previous year.

TOPPING UP Fuel prices went up by nearly 3p per litre last month after a 25 per cent rise in the cost of oil to over $45 a barrel.

The average price for a litre of petrol rose from 105.6p to 108.3p in April and diesel increased from 105.4p to 108p.

BETTER BEER Beer sales in the first three months of the year were just 1 per cent down on the same period of 2015, signalling stability after years of decline, the British Beer & Pub Association said.