This has fallen to fewer than 10,000 a week and British Gas expects to start gaining customers before the end of this year.The "fightback" campaign includes a new tariff which caps prices for the next three winters, and special offers giving gas and electricity customers free evening and weekend telephone calls and access to its home service boiler cover for a fixed fee.. In the near term the focus is on completing the one (acquisition) we have done and taking advantage of the organic growth opportunity." He said the integration of the Midwest lender, which bolsters RBS's Citizens business, was on track.Annual pre-tax profits excluding goodwill and integration costs climbed 15 per cent to £8.1bn, at the top end of analysts' expectations Pre-tax profits were up 14 per cent to £6.9bn. "A big acquisition is not featuring in our thinking at the moment. "But we need to make profits to invest in the future and secure the gas supplies the UK needs."At the peak of the customer desertion last autumn, British Gas was losing 40,000 to 50,000 domestic accounts a week. Overall, the group reported a 16 per cent rise in overall operating profits to £1.23bn. Sir Roy Gardner, Centrica's chief executive, insisted that last year's price increases had been "totally cost reflective" and that even after the rise in profits, British Gas was only making a return of 3p in the pound on its domestic energy supply business.Last year's price rises came at a cost, with British Gas losing one million customers as households switched to rival suppliers after the 18 per cent rise in bills.Allan Asher, chief executive of Energywatch, said: "Consumers accept that companies need to make profits.

Guardian Europe, the other major European player, was unavailable for comment on whether it had also been visited.The four companies produce 62 per cent of the world's high-quality float glass although only Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and Asahi have a presence in the automotive sector. British Gas still supplies about 60 per cent of the domestic market.The anger was fuelled by a 59 per cent increase in the dividend on top of the £1.26bn Centrica has already returned through special dividends and share buybacks. Centrica ran into a storm of protest yesterday after it announced an 83 per cent rise in profits from the residential division of British Gas following last year's sharp increases in gas and electricity bills. Consumer groups and trade unions seized on the £249m profit, accusing the company of profiteering and holding the public hostage. The glass industry is worth €14bn (£9.7bn) a year.The Commission stressed that the raids were not an indication of guilt, adding that there was no strict deadline for completing a cartel inquiry.If the commission finds the companies guilty of price fixing, it could fine them up to 10 per cent of turnover, although recent practice shows it tends to impose a fine of between 2 and 3 per cent of sales.Its biggest fine was a €497m (£350m) penalty against Microsoft last year for stifling competition for server software, although it could legally have ordered a $3bn (£1.6bn) penalty.. The Italian collections are nothing if not an exercise in trend spotting. It is here in Milan that the next big thing is identified, the big stories for next season are shaped and where the bags and shoes that will be worn with them are crafted. So it's interesting to notice then that the biggest trend of the Autumn/Winter 2005 Italian collections is that there are no trends.

And as if to confirm this phenomenon Fendi, Miu Miu and Versace, three of Milan's most influential fashion brands, went their own separate ways. First up was Fendi, the house famous for its little bags and big furs. Bringing the focus back on to its two core products, Karl Lagerfeld did what Fendi does best: hard-core glamour. Girls stormed out in devor?ffect leather dresses, fur worked into stripes for coats with epaulettes and claret-coloured broadtail trench coats And the accessories were just as high voltage. Bags were covered in a smattering of crystals and boots in white caviar beads. While it won't be to everyone's taste, it certainly had conviction.