Lord Young also said the company was looking to build on its US interests but declined to give details

Lord Young also said the company was looking to build on its US interests but declined to give details.. Mobile demand strong, says Vodafone

Vodafone said connection figures for the third quarter showed continued strong growth in the demand for mobile phones. Gross connections for July, August and September were over 279,000, which resulted in net connections of more than 148,000. The level of “network churn” continued to improve, down from 28.5 to 25 per cent. “This result for the traditionally slower summer quarter was significantly ahead of last year’s record equivalent period and well up to our expectations,” Sir Gerald Whent, chief executive, said.. NIC CICUTTI

Britain’s top two building societies, Halifax and Nationwide, warned yesterday against hopes of a rapid recovery in the housing market, despite recording the largest house price rise in more than six months.
Both societies said prices were still lower than a year ago, while sales were still at a low ebb.

Their figures came on the first day of new government restrictions on state benefits for homeowners who lose their jobs.Halifax said house prices rose by 0.3 per cent in September, but are down 2 per cent on a year ago. Nationwide’s index showed a 0.6 per cent monthly rise but a 1.3 per cent yearly fall.The only time Nationwide has recorded an increase greater than last month was in March, when its figures showed a one-off 1.2 per cent rise.In Halifax’s case, its September rise is the highest since last year. Philip Williamson, divisional director at Nationwide, pointed out that recent figures from the Inland Revenue showed that transactions were at their lowest level since early 1993.”Confidence remains poor after the experience of recent years and this could continue to be a potential restraint on [any] recovery,” he said.His views were backed by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the industry’s trade body. “It is too early to say whether this is the first sign of a revival. One would have to look at many more months’ house prices before making a firm judgement,” the council said.”Higher transactions would be a sign of greater confidence by homeowners and new borrowers. That is dependent on what initiatives are taken by the Government.”Despite his caution, Mr Williamson said he was still hopeful of a modest house price rise next year. “There are grounds for believing the market will show some improvement,” he said.”Weak growth in personal incomes, a significant drag on the market in 1995, could be alleviated by tax cuts in November’s Budget.

The recent improvement in the outlook for interest rates is also an important positive factor.”Mr Williamson also argued that a turnaround in house prices would depend on government measures to stimulate activity.”Next month’s Budget offers an opportunity [for it] to provide specific help for the homebuyer, thus reaffirming its support for owner-occupation,” he said.Over the past six months, lenders have waged a bitter campaign against government cuts to mortgage interest payments made when many borrowers become unemployed.The changes, which take place today, mean that new borrowers will not have the interest paid on their mortgages for the first six months. Existing borrowers will be denied payments for two months, switching to half the interest for another four months.Some lenders argued the cuts would depress house prices further and push up repossession rates.. RUSSELL HOTTEN

Lucas Industries has agreed to pay another $88m (pounds 58m) to settle claims that it supplied sub-standard parts to the US Navy after a two-year Pentagon investigation.
The company will make further provisions of pounds 95m when it announces its profits on Monday, and has also announced that the division which caused the trouble is to be sold.Lucas has already paid a pounds 12m fine to settle criminal proceedings and last year said provisions of pounds 200m included an undisclosed amount to cover the US action. George Simpson, Lucas chief executive, said the financial impact of the US troubles was “out of all proportion to the issues involved, but we believe this was the best settlement available.”The settlement avoids years of costly and complex litigation and the possibility that Lucas would struggle to win new US defence contracts until the problems had been settled.The $88m agreement is believed to be the largest ever paid by a company facing such charges from the US military, which is cracking down on breaches of its quality control regulations.The US authorities filed a civil suit accusing a group subsidiary, Lucas Western, of having falsified inspection documents relating to the gearboxes for F/A-18 fighter planes.Lucas said that when the products were delivered, they more than met the performance criteria laid down in the contracts, and that the problem related only to irregularities in testing and procedures.On Monday the company will set aside additional provisions of pounds 55m for the year to last July, which will also cover costs of settling a conflict between the US Government and another subsidiary, Lucas Aul, which was sold earlier this year. Lucas said further provisions of pounds 40m will be made to cover the costs of restructuring its Lucas Western, which will be sold.