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But you could see speculators piling on to the maddest land rush since the Klondike as bids began popping up within minutes of the auction site www.names123 opening for business.

At 3.30pm, about 300 website names of varying utility came on to the block. D0 I hear £16,400 bid for FTSE-100.co.uk? Well, no, because you couldn’t actually hear anything as the web’s first online auction of domain names began yesterday. But you could see speculators piling on to the maddest land rush since the Klondike as bids began popping up within minutes of the auction site www.names123 opening for business. Mobile phone giant Vodafone AirTouch will make a fresh bid to buy German group Mannesmann on Friday, the company said today.

Chris Gent, chief executive at Vodafone, said the company would meet its key shareholders over the next two days to discuss its next move.
Vodafone’s board will meet on Thursday and a fresh approach to the German company would be made the next day, Mr Gent said.
Mr Gent made a first approach to Mannesmann at the weekend offering £64 billion to be paid in Vodafone shares.
But the offer was flatly rejected by Mannesmann’s board led by chief executive Klaus Esser.
Mr Gent said the company would consider making a hostile bid, but would rather secure Mannesmann’s agreement for a deal.
“We would be prepared, if necessary, to proceed with an unsolicited bid, but we would rather that was not the case,” he said.
Mannesmann said yesterday it would consider any further approaches by Vodafone as “unfriendly”.
The group’s first approach to Mannesmann offered 43.7 Vodafone shares for each Mannesmann stock, valuing the German company at £64 billion.
Analyst believe Vodafone would have to raise its bid to as much as £75 billion to win the support of Mannesmann’s shareholders against the wishes of its board.
As a first step to prepare for such a battle Vodafone today outlined details of its plans for a merger with Mannesmann which it said would create a world-beating mobile phone company with 42 million customers.
It added that a merger would save the combined companies £500 million a year in 2003 and £600 million in 2004.
And it promised there would be no job cuts if its merger was successful.
Mr Gent said: “The wireless businesses of Mannesmann and Vodafone AirTouch belong together – we have been working together for many years and are natural partners in Europe.”
Mannesmann owns mobile business in Germany, Italy and France, in which Vodafone already has minority stakes.
A full merger would give the combined enlarged business mobile phone interests in 15 European countries.
But Mannesmann has shown itself determined to resist Vodafone’s approaches.
In a further escalation of the battle between the firms the German company last night won an injunction forcing investment bank Goldman Sachs to stop advising Vodafone over its planned bid, arguing the company faced a conflict of interest.
Goldman Sachs had advised Orange over its deal to merge with Mannesmann for £20 billion last month.
The move will be tested in the High Court on Thursday, but Mr Gent described the legal move by Mannesmann as “defensive and desperate”.
Vodafone is still being advised by another investment bank Warburg Dillon Reed.
A takeover of Mannesmann would include all the group’s fixed-line telephone business in Germany, its engineering business and another UK mobile phone group Orange.
Orange agreed to a £20 billion takeover by Mannesmann last month.
Vodafone would certainly be blocked from taking control of Orange and said today it would be demerged and ownership given to shareholders in the enlarged Vodafone-Mannesmann business.
Vodafone also said it would continue Mannesmann’s stated policy of floating off its engineering business on the German stock market.
But Mr Gent said Vodafone would retain the German company’s fixed line telecoms business.
The outline plans for a takeover of Mannesmann were announced as Vodafone unveiled financial results for the six months to September 30 ahead of analysts forecasts.
Before exceptional costs and tax, profits rose to £1.19 billion from £924 million.
The figures were calculated on a pro-forma basis including earnings from US company AirTouch throughout the six months.
Vodafone formally completed in takeover of AirTouch on June 30.
Shareholders will receive an increased interim dividend of 0.655p a share, up from 0.624p for the same period last year.
Worldwide customer numbers reached 31.5 million, up by more than six million over the six months.
In the company’s home market of the UK it added 1.29 million customers, giving it 6.86 million subscribers.
end. Mobile phone giant Vodafone AirTouch will make a fresh bid to buy German group Mannesmann on Friday, the company said today. Mobile phone giant Vodafone AirTouch today outlined its plans for a merger with Germany’s Mannesmann, promising to create a world leading company with 42 million customers.

The company said a merger, so far rejected by Mannesmann, would create savings of more than £500 million and would require no job losses.
But the British phone company stopped short of launching a fresh offer for the German company as some observers had expected.
Mannesmann rebuffed a £64 billion approach from Vodafone at the weekend describing the offer as ‘wholly inadequate’.
Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone said: ‘The wireless businesses of Mannesmann and Vodafone AirTouch belong together – we have been working together for many years and are natural partners in Europe.’
A merger would create a company with mobile phone interests in 15 European countries with 30 million customers.
Worldwide the group would have the equivalent of 42 million customers.
Vodafone said a merger would allow savings of £500 million in 2003 and £600 million in 2004.
But Mannesmann has shown itself determined to resist Vodafone’s approaches.
In a further escalation of the battle between the firms the German company last night reportedly forced investment bank Goldman Sachs to stop advising Vodafone over its planned bid, arguing the company faced a conflict of interest.
Goldman Sachs had advised Orange over its deal to merge with Mannesmann for £20 billion last month.If successful in its attempt to take over Mannesmann, competition watchdogs would certainly insist it disposed of Orange.
In its outline proposals today Vodafone said it would demerge Orange from the Mannesmann business and sell the group back to shareholders in Vodafone and Mannesmann.. Mobile phone giant Vodafone AirTouch today outlined its plans for a merger with Germany’s Mannesmann, promising to create a world leading company with 42 million customers.

Premiums were included in the rent.
The team also called for better access to counselling and refinancing for those in debt.
Also, the Social Fund, which makes loans for basic household goods for those on benefits, could be extended to help those in low-paid employment.
The Financial Services Authority regulator welcomed the proposals for credit unions.
Howard Davies, chairman of the FSA, said: “The FSA will develop a practical system for the regulation and supervision of credit unions – taking account of their special characteristics.”
He added: “This will put credit union members in a similar position to other financial services customers in terms of the benefits of proportionate regulation and the protection offered by the FSA’s compensation scheme.
“This should provide a positive environment in which the movement can develop further by strengthening the confidence of members and the general public that money placed with a credit union is suitably protected.”. The unions should also be able to provide current accounts with access to hole-in-the-wall machines.
Banks will be called upon to give financial backing to the CSO.
The recommendation did not call for legislation to force banks into taking on the measures.
Miss Johnson said: “The Government does not want to compel banks, but if a voluntary course of action is ineffective we will keep other options open.”
The proposals came as part of the Government’s wider plans to tackle social exclusion and were included in one of 18 reports from policy action teams set in motion by the Prime Minister in September last year.
“Success in tackling financial exclusion is essential to achieving our wider targets of eliminating social exclusion,” said Miss Johnson.
Without access to bank accounts, people could not take advantage of efficient payment of bills and saving money.
Broader measures in the report included plans to encourage and support landlords to buy home contents insurance for their tenants.
Such insurance-with-rent schemes, bought on a group basis, were cheaper than buying individual cover. The Government today unveiled a raft of proposals aimed at giving the poorest communities access to financial services.

About two million British adults do not have the bank accounts, loans and insurance cover taken for granted by most of society.
Banks and insurers run for profit have generally seen them as too high risk.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Melanie Johnson called for banks to provide simple, basic current accounts for poorer people.
The accounts, already offered widely in Scotland, would not allow customers to go overdrawn so a credit check would be unnecessary.
Miss Johnson was also keen to encourage credit unions – not-for-profit voluntary organisations run in communities to provide cheap loans and interest on savings.
The report called for the establishment of a central support organisation (CSO) to promote and advise credit unions. The Government today unveiled a raft of proposals aimed at giving the poorest communities access to financial services.

We are transferring costs from old or unwanted activities to new areas – one of our key strengths.
“Our commitment to efficiency, represented by lower cost ratios, remains undiminished.”
Northern Rock said it was also in advanced talks to sell its Regency Care Homes to NHP, a leading player in the care homes sector.
And the bank said it was planning a share buy-back programme estimated at up to £150 million next year.. Building society-turned-bank Northern Rock is to close 29 of its poorer-performing branches, cutting 250 jobs, it said today. Building society-turned-bank Northern Rock is to close 29 of its poorer-performing branches, cutting 250 jobs, it said today.

The news follows yesterday’s plans by Barclays to close 200 branches next year.
Northern Rock, which has 105 branches, said it would close the 29 outlets, which had “declining business volumes”, by the end of this year.
Its new call centre, which will be used to process mortgages, will be launched early next year.
And the new staff at Newcastle were being employed to “create higher levels of customer service across the whole range of its core business, to support e-commerce, and to meet the demands of growth,” the group said.
Chief executive Leo Finn added: “The net financial cost implications of our moves will not be material. Blue Circle shares dropped to 269.5p in late October, a near 12-month low, after it issued a profits warning, citing difficulties in emerging markets.. Hanson is the country’s fourth-largest supplier of concrete, and the second largest producer ofaggregates.Hanson shares shed 14p yesterday to close at 479p, while Blue Circle backtracked 9.75p to finish at 320p. We don’t think anything has changed.”Last week, RMC, Britain’s leading producer of ready-mixed concrete, agreed to pay about pounds 920m for Rugby, the country’s third-largest supplier of cement.The advent of substantial vertical integration across the building materials industry – cement is concrete’s costliest ingredient – triggered talk that Hanson may launch a copycat move for Blue Circle.

A breakdown of the price paid for each business was not disclosed.”These transactions continue our successful strategy of building up our business through bolt-on acquisitions and capital expenditure,” Andrew Dougal, Hanson’s chief executive, said. “We have spent approximately pounds 275m on acquisitions in the US this year, out of a total spend of approximately pounds 380m.”More US acquisitions were expected in the coming months.On possible moves in Britain, Justin Read, a Hanson spokesman, said: “It’s life as usual. THE BUILDING materials company Hanson said yesterday that it had bought two US businesses for $73m in cash, further boosting its presence in the country’s rapidly consolidating market. The company also moved to play down speculation that it was lining up a bid for Blue Circle Industries, Britain’s leading cement maker, in the wake of last week’s ground-breaking deal between RMC Group and Rugby Group.
Hanson bought BR DeWitt Inc, a New York state-based aggregates, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete producer, and Superior Products Co, a concrete- pipe maker with operations in Cleveland and Philadelphia. However, a source close to the bank insisted yesterday that the letter only reflected “one stage in our thinking and by no means the definitive stage.”The discovery of the letter has added to the frustration in the BoS camp about the refusal of the panel to force the issue. RBS is being treated as a potential bidder for NatWest by the panel and last week filed for merger clearance with the Office of Fair Trading, but has not so far been required to commit itself to bidding, let alone going public with the terms on which such an offer would be made.The panel rejected an earlier appeal by BoS on the grounds that it could not be seen to act in a way that tipped the tactical balance in the contest although it did set 3 December as the deadline for RBS to clarify its position..