All you have to do is to drive around here to see all that.”. Life and pensions premiums rose 7 per cent, mainly driven by strong growth in the company’s life and protection divisions. However, overall pensions business fell 3.6 per cent.Keith Satchell, the chief executive, said he remained optimistic about the outlook for the coming year, as the wave of regulatory change, which has swept the industry over the past three years, begins to come to an end.”We are seeing some clarity on the regulatory side – a lot of the current initiatives will finally be nailed over the coming year,” he said. “By the end of the year, I think there will be quite a stable platform for the industry to progress.”Mr Satchell added that although Friends shares industry concerns that the recently announced raise in the stakeholder pensions charging cap, from 1 to 1.5 per cent, is insufficient, the increased margin would be enough to encourage the group to make a bigger impression in the pensions market next year.

The group’s results were also boosted by a strong performance from Isis, the quoted fund management group in which it owns a controlling stake.. Millions of home owners were facing the prospect of another increase in mortgage bills after the Bank of England raised interest rates for the third time in four months. Others are likely to follow suit in a move that will add £20 a month to the mortgage bill of a typical borrower with a £100,000 interest-only debt.Business leaders urged the Bank to wait and see before moving again, but some estate agents attacked the rate rise as “totally unnecessary”.In its statement, the Bank acknowledged that Britain’s red-hot property market had “started to ease”, fuelling hopes that it was close to the end of its tightening policy.. Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publisher, yesterday predicted that its internet-based revenues would soar 20 per cent this year, to £1.2bn. It is investing heavily in developing its online services, making all of its print publications available over the internet, and online revenues have grown tenfold in the past five years. Reed Elsevier, which is clinging to the traditional science-publishing model that sees companies charge hefty subscriptions to those who want to access journals, relies on its science publishing division for 40 per cent of its profits.

“We have seen accelerating growth in the number of [science] articles being submitted, up 5 per cent,” Sir Crispin said “We are not complacent But you have to keep it in perspective. Although it’s generated a lot of publicity in the market it has had a relatively small impact.”He was speaking as the group reported a 3 per cent rise in pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 June. Underlying pre-tax profits rose 5 per cent to £433m, ahead of expectations, although the weak US dollar hit its turnover, which slipped 3 per cent to £2.3bn. Its shares, which have suffered from fears that the so-called “open access” shake-up in scientific publishing could spell the end of Reed’s high margins, rose 5p to 481p.The group predicted accelerated revenue growth for the rest of year as the advertising market improves, particularly in business-to-business publishing. “We are seeing evidence of a turnaround, which is the first time for three years I have been able to say that,” Sir Crispin said, highlighting particularly strong growth in the US and UK magazine markets. “The recruitment market in the UK is now growing quite well,” he added.The group reiterated its guidance of above-market revenue growth and mid-to-high single digit earnings per share growth at constant exchange rates this year.

In 2005, it expects its earnings to grow by double digits, boosted by a pick-up in the US education market.Sir Crispin said the company would continue to spend its $500m of free cash on bolt-on acquisitions “Nearly all of these will be online.”. Barratt Developments has agreed to sell its US business, Barratt USA Holdings, for $165m (£90m). The company said it has planning permission to build more than this year’s total of 14,000 houses next year, and hoped to push construction to 20,000 a year by 2010.Michael Pattinson, the US unit’s president, is one of three managers putting up a total of $3m towards purchasing the group Bank of America will provide the rest.. British Energy’s chairman Adrian Montague and Polygon Investment Partners, the hedge fund leading calls for a better deal for shareholders from the electricity provider’s proposed restructuring, met for the first time at the company’s annual meeting in Edinburgh yesterday. British EnergY’s chairman Adrian Montague, and Polygon Investment Partners, the hedge fund leading calls for a better deal for shareholders from the electricity provider’s proposed restructuring, met for the first time at the company’s annual meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.
Polygon, which owns 5.6 per cent of British Energy, demanded to know why the British Energy board had ignored attempts to recapitalise the company in 2002/2003, and why the restructuring had failed to reflect the possibility that trading at the company might improve before it was complete. Despite predictions that the meeting would be tempestuous, just 53 of the company’s 230,000 shareholders turned up.