Updates from Aer Lingus, De La Rue and Caledonia Investments

An 82-point slump for the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, dragging it back under the 7,000 threshold to 6,949. Royal Mail shares raced 3.6% ahead to 521.50p however after a broker promotion from Cantor Fitzgerald. Weir Group was also up strongly, climbing 3.3% to 1616p. However miners were hit: Fresnillo and RandgoldResources were both down 3.5%; RBS slumped almost 2.8% to 345.20p.

The gloom extended west across the Atlantic with the Dow dipping 190 points to 18,041.5 as the US dollar surged and Greek worries were writ large, once again.

We start with news that BA owner IAG closes in on Aer Lingus. IAG and Aer Lingus say they've reached agreement on a cash offer: Aer Lingus Shareholders will get €2.55 in cash for each share. However there's no news on whether Aer Lingus co-owner Ryanair will agree to the deal.

Aer Lingus will continue to hold existing slots at Heathrow and operate its daily winter and summer scheduled frequencies between London Heathrow and Dublin, Cork and Shannon for at least seven years post-acquisition.

"Aer Lingus, Ireland and IAG would all," says IAG boss Willie Walsh, "benefit from this deal. Aer Lingus would maintain control of its brand and operation while gaining strength as part of a profitable and sustainable airline group."

Next, an update from Bank of England printer De La Rue. Both full-year revenues and underlying profits are down: revenues slip to £472.1m from £513.3m while profits tumble to £69.5m from £89.3m.

The full year numbers are in line with expectations claims De La Rue. Banknote print volumes climb 5% to £6.5bn meanwhile banknote paper volumes were down 2% to 9,400 tonnes. There's a final dividend of 16.7p per share, giving a total dividend for the year of 25p.

"These results," says chief exec Martin Sutherland, "are in line with our revised expectations and include the benefit of further operational efficiencies. However, these have been outweighed by the impact of the challenging market conditions."

Lastly, Caledonia Investments claim a NAV total return of 14.2% for the year up to 31 March with an annualised ten year NAV total return of 8.6%, outperforming the FTSE All-Share by 0.9% it says.

Annual dividend is up 3.1% to 50.6p per share, the forty-eighth consecutive annual increase it says. There was a total investments of £241m during the year.

"We are well placed," says chief exec Will Wyatt, "to capitalise on future opportunities and to meet our average annual return objectives of RPI+3% to RPI+6% over a ten year period."

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