BAA hit by higher security costs

THE IMPACT of the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US is still hitting BAA, the airports group that operates Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Pre-tax profits for the first three months of the year were down 6% to £143m from £152m for the same period last year. The company blamed lower passenger numbers, the added costs of security and higher insurance bills. However, income from passenger shopping at the airports was slightly up on the same period last year.

Passenger volumes are not expected to recover until autumn. Additional security measures and insurance are expected to cost the company £25m this year.

Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company, also lost customers in the UK - for the first time in its history.

In the three months to the end of June, it gained 123,000 new contract customers in this country but switched off 300,000 pre-paid phones which it described as inactive. This left it with a net loss of 177,000 customers for the quarter.

Vodafone said the loss reflected the fact that many pre-paid customers had upgraded their handsets but kept their old ones. Worldwide, it added 2.7m customers taking the total to 103.9m.