That fits with the Bank of England’s forecast that house price growth will slow to 9 or 10 per cent by the end of 2000.. The final stage of the auction for next-generation mobile phone licences kicks off today with total bids nudging £13bn, but it could be suspended at any time by one of the eight remaining bidders. The final stage of the auction for next-generation mobile phone licences kicks off today with total bids nudging £13bn, but it could be suspended at any time by one of the eight remaining bidders.
This is the result of an unusual rule that allows any bidder – once five of the original 13 have withdrawn – to request a one-day recess. The provision came into play after the final round of bidding yesterday when One.Tel, the Australian consortium backed by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, withdrew.Remaining in the auction are the four incumbent operators – BT Cellnet, One2One, Vodafone AirTouch and Orange – along with WorldCom, NTL Mobile, Telefonica and TIW.Last night analysts were speculating over which companies would join the five who have already walked away from the auction.

“The next to go will be TIW, probably followed by WorldCom, leaving NTL and Telefonica to battle it out,” said an analyst with a US investment bank.After the 92nd round, Vodafone continued in pole position for licence B, which offers the most frequency to an incumbent operator, with a bid of £2.99bn. WorldCom stayed in top spot for licence A, the biggest frequency block reserved for a new operator, bidding £2.73bn.Telefonica prevailed in the bid for licence C with a £2.42bn offer, while One2One led in the contest for licence E, bidding £2.45bn. TIW returned to the top table with an offer of £2.34bn for licence D.The rationale for the hefty bids for next-generation licences was underlined by new figures showing strong mobile subscriber growth in the first quarter. Third-generation licences will include new revenue opportunities such as mobile internet access.Orange led the way, adding 1.08 million net new users, giving it 5.98 million users. Vodafone placed third with 851,000 new users for a leading total of 8.8 million.One2One, including Virgin Mobile, which uses its network, came second in the quarter with 861,000 new customers, taking it to 5.02 million. BT Cellnet, which had rebounded in recent quarters, slid into fourth place as it added 457,000 new customers, although it remains number two overall with just over 7.4 million users..

The fashion retailer Oasis posted a 15 per cent drop in full-year pre-tax profits yesterday, but said like-for-like sales rose 5 per cent in the first seven weeks of this year. “We are pleased to be back on track,” said finance director Dominic Lavelle. The fashion retailer Oasis posted a 15 per cent drop in full-year pre-tax profits yesterday, but said like-for-like sales rose 5 per cent in the first seven weeks of this year. “We are pleased to be back on track,” said finance director Dominic Lavelle.
The company reported pre-tax profits of £11.1m for the year to 29 January, down from £13m, on turnover up by 18 per cent to £131.8m. Margins were “very robust” in the first seven weeks of the year, Mr Lavelle said. Oasis maintained a final dividend of 5.6p, giving a year’s total of 8.5p, up 3 per cent.Mr Lavelle said the company had faced a “very challenging” fourth quarter.”But what we have seen since then is a bounce back, with like-for-like sales up 5 per cent, just about in line with the first three-quarters of last year.”In January the company, which operates 146 Oasis stores and 22 Coast fashion brand stores, issued a warning that profits would be below the lower end of market forecasts, which were then about £12.5m.

Some analysts reduced forecasts to £11.5m following the January trading statement.Coast reported a pre-tax loss of £1.4m in its first full year of trading, and is expected to break even next year, Mr Lavelle said.. Businesses and trade unions racked up the pressure on the Bank of England to keep interest rates on hold today as new figures showed manufacturing output has now fallen for three months on the trot. Businesses and trade unions racked up the pressure on the Bank of England to keep interest rates on hold today as new figures showed manufacturing output has now fallen for three months on the trot.
A raft of new data published yesterday highlighted the dilemma the Monetary Policy Committee faces as it decides whether to order another hike in the cost of borrowing.Meanwhile, the row over the high value of the pound continued as the head of the British Chambers of Commerce traded blows with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.Output of the manufacturing sector fell 0.2 per cent in February and has fallen 0.5 per cent over the last months The monthly dip defied forecasts of a 0.3 per cent rise. Eleven out of the 14 sub-sectors experienced a fall with food and drink, machinery equipment and rubber and plastic products bearing the brunt.There were signs of a slowdown in the consumer economy with house prices and high street sales both falling.

Halifax said the price of the average home fell 0.4 per cent, taking annual growth to 13.5 per cent – down from January’s peak of 16 per cent.The Confederation of British Industry said the number of retailers reporting a rise in sales fell sharply last month. Sales growth is now at its lowest level since last November.The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said it estimated growth rate in the economy slowed to 0.5 per cent over the three months to March from 0.6 per cent in February. “These data show the impact of the weakness in manufacturing,” it said.The only contrary sign came from the monthly survey of the services sector by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. It found the index of business activity jumped to its highest level since June 1997 while input prices rose due to higher wages and commodity prices.Alastair Eperon, chairman of the CBI’s survey panel and an executive at Boots the Chemist, said: “The message to the Bank of England must be that interest rates can be left on hold.” John Monks, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “A decision to raise interest rates would be a complete misreading of the economic situation. Even more jobs would go under the cosh of the overvalued pound.”Dharshini David, an economist at HSBC, said: “These figures support the case for leaving rates on hold this month.” But Nick Stamenkovic at IDEAglobal said: “It is conflicting evidence but on balance we think they will raise rates. Manufacturing is clearly suffering but the services sector is doing very well.”Ian Peters, deputy-director of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The MPC must keep rates on hold until we get a full analysis of the Chancellor’s action in the Budget.. Concert and its two owners, British Telecom and AT&T, yesterday committed £1.25bn to developing a network of 44 internet data centres round the world in the next three years.