While the pace of this review is accelerating, decisions will be made business-by-business and we have no overall company-wide headcount-reduction target.”However, he added that the company was still making selective hires in investment banking and graduate recruitment would continue.The bank, nicknamed the Thundering Herd on Wall Street, said it was comfortable with Wall Street forecasts of $450m for its fourth quarter earnings. Revenues for the period would be down about 8 per cent on the previous three months amid continued weakness in investment banking and a decline in income from bond trading. There was also an impact from further disruption in the wake of 11 September, which forced the company to relocate 25 per cent of its trading, investment banking and research staff.David Komansky, Merrill’s chairman and chief executive, forecast a recovery in merger and acquisition activity this year, but cautioned: “We have a question as to how vigorous [recovery] will be and how much it will drive the various aspects of the business.”The comment echoed a similar assessment from rival Goldman Sachs, which last month warned that there would be a time lag before any upturn in corporate activity fed into higher investment banking revenues. Revenues from bond dealing and underwriting were unlikely to match the heady levels seen last year, Mr Komansky added.. Domino’s Pizza, the takeaway and delivery chain, yesterday applauded the power of advertising after its first terrestrial campaign spurred like-for-like sales to soar 22 per cent, sending its shares 8 per cent higher. In turn, every time our sales increased, the size of our national TV advertising fund increases,” Mr Hemsley said.The group, giving a trading update, said that total sales for the fourth quarter to 31 December grew by 29.4 per cent to £98m, helping average weekly sales per outlet to increase by 19.1 per cent to £8,500. Its shares rose 9p to 74.5p.Domino’s, which last year incurred the wrath of Pizza Hut when it alleged that it was the UK market leader in the home delivery and takeaway market, plans to double its stores to 500 by 2006, creating 5,000 jobs.

The group, which has refined its claim to controlling the UK’s pizza home delivery market, opened 24 new stores and now delivers from 237 outlets.Mr Hemsley said the focus on accelerating the roll out was necessary because although the ads went out to the whole of the UK’s population, only 35 per cent lived within range of a Domino’s branch. As well as chasing new stores, Domino’s has also spruced up the image of its existing estate, which increased what Mr Hemsley called their “kerbside appeal”.Analysts said the sales burst was also helped by customers opting to eat in rather than go out, fearing an impending economic downturn. Luke Ahern, at Seymour Pierce, said the trend was expected to intensify. “Things will get worse instead of getting better in terms of consumer spending. If a parent can avoid kids screaming for more ice cream and fizzy drinks and cap spending by going for a takeaway option they will,” he said.The research group Mintel has said that more pizzas are eaten outside UK restaurants than within, reflecting the acceleration of the home delivery market – the fastest-growing area of the quick service foods sector.. The row between Ryanair and Lufthansa over the low-cost carrier’s attempt to set up a new European hub at Frankfurt intensified yesterday after the Irish airline lodged a fresh complaint with Brussels over the German flag carrier’s behaviour.

Michael O’Leary, its chief executive, said the German carrier had launched a series of “ridiculous” court actions, seeking to prevent Ryanair from advertising price comparisons with Lufthansa.Mr O’Leary has now submitted a complaint to both the EU Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, and the EU Transport Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio, about Lufthansa’s tactics.Ryanair first lodged an objection in Brussels against Lufthansa last November after the German airline complained about Ryanair advertising the launch of services from Frankfurt when, in fact, the airport it will fly from, Frankfurt Hahn, is some distance outside the city.Commission sources said, however, the dispute was a matter for the German courts rather than Brussels.Ryanair will begin services from Frankfurt Hahn next month. It intends operating to 10 destinations, including London, Milan, Pisa, Oslo, Glasgow and Shannon, and is aiming to attract one million new passengers.Separately, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint about Ryanair’s fares promotion last autumn in the wake of the 11 September attacks. The ASA concluded that the campaign was misleading by not making it sufficiently clear that the cut-price offer did not apply to weekend flights.. Huntingdon Life Sciences, the controversial animal testing group under siege from protesters, yesterday lost its banker and biggest shareholder, Stephens Group, a US finance house.