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by Department of Economic Development

THE Isle of Man is hosting its 27th International Darts Festival from the 9th to the 11th March where Manx darts players will be competing for a place in the prestigious stage finals. Local residents are invited to watch the event free of charge at the Villa Marina which runs over three days. With more than 1000 darts players and fans expected to travel to the Island for the event, which carries top prizes of 5000 and 3000 in the mens and womens singles competition, the competition is an all important points ranking which will be the target of most of those competing. The points can help a player win a place on the sports most famous stage the Lakeside Country Club and the British Darts Organisation world championships at Frimley Green in Surrey. The festival starts on Friday 9th March at 8.30pm with the Mixed Pairs Competition and the Winmau Masters Youth Competition. On Saturday 10th March spectators have the opportunity to watch the Ladies and Mens Individual and Pairs competitions taking place. The finals day commences at 10.30am on Sunday 11th March and features top players from the UK, Northern Europe, Ireland and the Channel Islands battling it out for a 22,800 prize fund. For Isle of Man residents, the tournament is an important event on the calendar providing them with a unique opportunity to toe the oche alongside players who competed in the recent World Championships, as well as other leading international players and top-name inter county players from the UK. Geoff Corkish MBE, MHK, Political Member for the Department of Economic Development, said: This prestigious event features heavily in our year round programme of top class sporting events which attracts the best names in the darting world. Les France of L.F. Promotions, the players and Isle of Man Tourism are firm partners who together are working hard to ensure that this years International Darts Festival will be another success. Once again this year there is a special incentive to encourage local residents. Steam Packet Holidays are offering 100 to the best player - who is resident on the island who gets the furthest in both the mens and womens singles competitions. Twelve months ago Colin Tyrer became the first Manx darts player to taste the big stage atmosphere when he earned the right to play in the finals, after qualifying for the play-off which decided the winner of the 600 Okells Early Bird Trophy, emerging from the 192-strong starting field. Tournament promoter Les France, of LF Promotions a former England selector believes that the Manx players have the ability to inflict shocks on the big names of the sport. Les France commented: Local Residents have made rapid strides in the competition over the past five years highlighted last year by Colin Tyrers success in the Okells competition. Darts is all about confidence and if you put your opponent under pressure, they can suffer nerves and buckle, missing costly doubles. The International Darts Festival is organised by LF Promotions in conjunction with the Isle of Man Darts Organisation and is sponsored by the Department of Economic Development, Winmau Dartboards, Okells Brewery, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and Sleepwell Hotels. -ENDS-

This prestigious event features heavily in our year round programme of top class sporting events which attracts the best names in the darting world

Geoff Corkish, Department of Economic Development

If you'd like to send any information or news releases to us then please feel free to do so and we would be more than happy to consider sharing your news with the Isle of Man!

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Top Players Step Up for International Darts Festival

Motul will support the team as it contests the World Endurance Championship, the Isle of Man TT and the Northwest 200 aboard the 20th anniversary Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

The team will use the lubricant specialist's Motul 300V Racing Kit Oil, which has been specifically developed for the Fireblade in conjunction with Honda Racing Corporation and uses new Ester technology for maximum power output and engine performance.

Motul already has significant links with the endurance championship through its support of other leading teams and uses the demanding discipline for extensive research and product development. The company also acts as the official lubricant supplier for the Isle of Man TT and, having crowned over 50 world champion titles, is hoping to add a TT victory to its list of triumphs.

The Honda TT Legends rider line-up of John McGuinness, Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson and Simon Andrews will compete in EWC, while McGuinness and Andrews will form a two-man squad for the TT and the NW200.

Neil Tuxworth, Honda TT Legends team manager, said, "We are really pleased to announce the agreement with Motul. The company has valuable expertise in EWC, so this is an ideal collaboration as the team enters its all-important second year of competition. As an official partner at the TT, Motul is also ideally placed to support the team on the Isle of Man. We are looking forward to seeing the results of the relationship."

Herv Amelot, Motul managing director, added, "We are delighted to reinforce our links with motorcycling through our support of Honda Motor Europe's endurance and road racing programme. The Honda TT Legends team has assembled an excellent rider line-up for 2012 and, in light of our role as official lubricant supplier to the Isle of Man TT, what better line-up is there to be involved with than the fastest man around that course and the 2011 fastest newcomer?"

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Honda TT Legends sign agreement with Motul

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd. dipped in their trading debut Wednesday after the stock's initial public offering priced at the low end of its anticipated range.

The Cayman Islands company set its IPO of approximately 13.3 million ordinary shares at $14 apiece. Home Loan Servicing had said it in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expected to price the IPO between $14 and $16 per share.

In morning trading, the stock lost 40 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $13.60, with nearly 3 million shares changing hands early in the session.

Home Loan Servicing said it will also issue and sell an additional $10 million of its stock to founder and Chairman William Erbey at the IPO price in a concurrent private placement.

The company plans to use the offering's net proceeds to buy the right to receive servicing and other related fees, associated servicing advances and other related assets from Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC.

Erbey serves as Ocwen Financial Corp.'s chairman, according to the filing. Ocwen Loan Servicing is an Ocwen Financial subsidiary.

Home Loan Servicing is giving the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 2 million ordinary shares to cover any excess demand.

Home Loan Servicing is trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the "HLSS" ticker symbol.

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Home Loan Servicing Solutions shares dip in debut

29 February 2012

The Cayman Islands' Economics and Statistics Office has reported that the island's economy began to recover from the economic downturn during the first nine months of 2011, with growth of 1.2% year-on-year recorded, compared to a contraction of 5.8% in the same period a year earlier.

Among the various economic sectors, the performance of the hotels and restaurants, and real estate, renting and business services stood out as these were estimated to have grown by 7.5% and 3.4% respectively. However, the financial services sector continues to see mixed results.

Banking deposits fell by 2% over the period to September 2011 to USD5.16 trillion. As of September 2011, the total number of licensed bank and trust companies stood at 250 - down by 4.6% from 262 a year ago. Similarly, licences issued to trust companies decreased by 4.7% to 123.

During the nine-month period, applicants from Europe and USA led the Caymans' banking licencees accounting for 29.2% and 26.4%, respectively. The distribution of other banking licence sources was as follows: South America 17.2%; Asia and Australia 10.0%; Caribbean and Central America 8.4%; Canada and Mexico 5.2%; and the Middle East and Africa 3.6%.

In the insurance industry, the number of captive insurers fell marginally over the period, while premiums improved to USD2.07bn. The number of mutual funds fell by 1.7% year-on-year.

The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange experienced a growth in listings of 1.5% from 1,116 in September 2010 to 1,133 in September 2011.

The Cayman Islands also witnessed growth in terms of company registrations, to 7,063 compared with 6,192 over the same period of 2010, a 14.1% increase.

Despite weak economic performance, the Cayman Islands government was successful in significantly reducing the deficit from USD61.3m a year ago to USD17m. Revenues increased by 6.5% over the period while expenditure increased at a lesser rate of 3.6%. Capital expenditures fell markedly.

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Mixed Fortunes For Cayman Finance Industry

Posted: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 2:42 pm | Updated: 5:14 pm, Wed Feb 29, 2012.

Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Wednesday to allow individuals to divert more money they would otherwise owe the state to instead help children attend private and parochial schools.

The new law provides a dollar-for-dollar income tax credit of up to $500 for money donated to organizations that provide scholarships to help pay the tuition and fees of students at these schools. Married couples could get a $1,000 credit.

This is in addition to an existing program that provides a tax credit of up to $503 for donations to scholarship organizations. In 2010, the most recent year figures were available, the credits the amount not paid to the state treasury totaled $43.2 million.

The measure was pushed by Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale, who said he was concerned that the amount of money donated under the current program has not kept pace with requests by students to get financial help to attend private and parochial schools.

Brewer vetoed legislation last year to increase the amount individuals could donate. She said the state could not afford the loss of tax dollars.

This new law, however, was crafted to address her concerns by including a requirement that the scholarship funds could go mainly to those who initially switch from public schools. Murphy said that will save money by taking students out of public school classrooms.

That apparently was enough to convince Brewer.

This is a narrowly crafted law that will open new educational opportunities for Arizona children, said gubernatorial press aide Matthew Benson. And he said the governor, who convinced voters two years ago to temporarily hike state sales taxes to balance the budget, does not believe this new program will cut into needed revenues.

For the bulk of these children who would be moving from a public school into a private facility, the state would get some savings from that, Benson said. He estimated the actual net loss to the state in the neighborhood of a few million dollars, likely even less than that.

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New Arizona law expands tuition tax credits for private schools