Provident Sells Car Insurance Arm ; Business News IN BRIEF

Provident Financial, the door-to-door lender, has offloaded its car insurance arm for [pound]170m ahead of its planned demerger. The move drew a downbeat reaction from analysts, who said the price was a disappointment. The unit was sold to GMAC Insurance Holdings, part of the financial services arm of US carmaker General Motors. Provident plans to spin off its international arm. The car insurance arm has long been considered non-core and the company will book a [pound]70m one-off gain. Shares finished unchanged at 810p.

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