New Hampshire Business Review - May 6 2011

White Mountains Insurance Group has sold off its Esurance and Answer Financial subsidiary to Allstate Corp., for an estimated $1 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close in the fall, the companies announced Wednesday.The White Mountains conglomerate -…

The latest figures from the New Hampshire Department of Economic Security have placed the state's April unemployment rate at 4.9 percent - approaching levels that haven't been seen in more than two years.April's 4.9 percent is a drop of 0.3…

Whole Foods is once again setting its sights on Nashua for a new store.According to website of the Austin, Texas-based national natural foods supermarket Nashua is listed as a site for an upcoming store."Yes, we have indeed announced that a…

New Hampshire health insurers have been granted a temporary exemption on the minimum medical loss ratio required as part of compliance with federal Affordable Care Act, but it wasn't quite the exemption they were looking for.On behalf of the state's…

Presstek Inc. started out the year with a $1.5 million loss, or 4 cents a share, thanks to another revenue drop of 7.6 percent, leaving the company with $3.2 million in cash, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange…

A new study by Genworth Financial says the cost of long-term care is considerably higher in New Hampshire than it is in the rest of the country.According to Genworth's 2011 Cost of Care Survey, the median annual cost for care…

The state Senate did not repeal the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority Wednesday, but it did strip the agency of most of its power by turning it into a study commission -- and in doing so got enough votes to…

News outlets nationally and in New Hampshire have been reporting the largest percentage drop in oil prices the markets have seen since 2008, with the lower prices at the pump expected to follow.In fact, many analysts have predicted that the…

JSPA founder Jeffrey Sercel has been named the New Hampshire High Technology Council's 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year, marking the second time he's won the award. Sercel, who was presented with the award on Monday as part of the High…