An ad-funded mobile network that offers free calls and texts to 16- to 24-year-olds has signed 100,000 UK users in the first six months of operation.

Blyk—a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) which piggybacks on the Orange network and gives users 217 free texts and 43 free voice minutes per month in exchange for receiving no more than six targeted ad texts/picture messages per day—has reached its annual member target half a year ahead of schedule.

Blyk said the ad campaigns that fund the service have had an average response rate of 29 per cent—which it described as “industry leading”. But many individual campaigns have had significantly higher response rates than that, according to Blyk, which cites a Penguin Books promotion for Nick Hornby’s novel Slam which it said gained “an unprecedented 67 per cent response rate”.

Blyk users are asked to volunteer information about themselves and their interests, enabling the company to build up detailed profiles for targeting ads. It said the average cost to advertisers per response rate is 53p—which makes Blyk a more efficient form of advertising than online (1.50), email (2.00), direct mail (12.50) and unprofiled mobile SMS (2.22).

Shaun Gregory, UK CEO of Blyk, said in a statement: “Reaching 100,000 members is significant for advertisers because it gives them the opportunity to engage with a mass youth audience in a highly efficient and cost-effective way. In six months we have built up a deep knowledge of our member base which now exceeds many established youth media players and with over seven million 16- to 24-year-old phone owners in the UK there is huge potential for growth.”

Blyk launched in the UK at the end of September 2007.

Rival MVNO «www.silicon.com» after attracting hundreds of thousands of unique visitors to a WAP advertising portal it was trialling.

LONDON: Stocks rose modestly in Europe and Asia on Monday, as some investors wagered that the worst of the credit crisis was over. Oil prices neared $120 a barrel amid expectations that inflation would remain high.

Credit Suisse Group and Lloyds TSB Group gained in Europe after JPMorgan Chase wrote in a report that the worst of the write-downs might be over for European banks. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group surged in Tokyo. Wm. Wrigley Jr. jumped in Germany after The New York Times reported that Mars and Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway were close to buying the company. StatoilHydro led European energy-related shares higher.

“People are beginning to sense that we are coming towards the endgame,” Stephen Pope, chief global strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London, said. If you agree that we are through the worst, “then banks are not such a bad place to go into,” he said.

In afternoon trading, the FTSE 100 index was up 0.6 percent, while the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, was up 0.8 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris was up 1 percent, while the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.8 percent.

The MSCI world index added 0.4 percent to 1,521.2 . The index has rebounded, paring this years declines to 4.2 percent, on speculation banks are recovering after $309 billion in writedowns. Futures on the Standard Poors 500 index added 0.5 percent, suggesting a stronger opening Monday on Wall Street.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.8 percent, as the Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained 0.2 percent, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.6 percent, and the SP/ASX 200 index in Sydney rose 0.3 percent.

Stocks rallied last week in the U.S. and Europe after companies from Boeing to Ericsson and Bayer reported earnings that beat analysts estimates. Financial shares in the SP 500 climbed Friday to their highest since February after profit at American Express topped estimates.

As of Friday, 60.5 percent of companies in the SP 500 reported positive surprises, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In Europe, analysts now predict earnings will be little changed this year for companies in the Stoxx 600, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 0.5 decline forecast the previous week.

Credit Suisse, Switzerlands second-biggest bank, added 3.6 percent. Commerzbank, Germanys second-largest bank, gained 2.4 percent.

The Commerzbank chief executive, Klaus-Peter Mueller, said Monday that the financial turbulence from the collapse of the U.S. subprime market might calm by mid-year.

“The worst of the markdowns seems to be over,” JPMorgan analysts, including London-based Kian Abouhossein wrote in a note. Banks in Europe excluding Britain will write down about \6.8 billion, or $10.6 billion, before taxes this year after the value of credit assets fell, according to JPMorgan. That is down from a previous forecast of \8.3 billion, based on the report.

JPMorgan is “on the optimistic side,” said Stephen Thornber, fund manager at Threadneedle Asset Management in London. “I may be a little bit more cautious. It is probably a little bit too early to say that we are through the worst.”

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japans largest publicly traded bank, gained 8.9 percent. Mizuho Financial, the No. 2 bank by revenue, jumped 7.5 percent.

Wrigley surged $12.74 to $75.19 in Germany. Mars and Berkshire Hathaway may be close to buying the maker of Doublemint gum for more than $22 billion in a deal that would combine two of the biggest U.S. candy makers, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

StatoilHydro, Norways largest oil and gas company, climbed 3.6 percent. Saipem, Europes biggest oilfield-services contractor by market value, rallied 3.5 percent.

U.S. crude oil for June delivery rose as much as 1.2 percent to $119.93 a barrel after BP shut a North Sea pipeline and gunmen attacked police guarding Nigerias largest oil and gas terminal.

You’ve got two kids and just found out another is on the way. If you’re like most families, that means it’s time for a bigger car—which is the last thing most parents want to think about these days.

It used to be so simple. Gas was cheap, safety laws were virtually nonexistent, and cars were big enough that the whole extended family could squeeze in comfortably. Not anymore. Finding a car that can fit five or more meant, until recently, shopping for a big, usually American-made SUV such as the «www.businessweek.com», «www.businessweek.com», or a minivan. And while these vehicles have the room to accommodate a small army—and its gear—they also have gas mileage that is only slightly better than an M1 Abrams tank.

Fortunately there are alternatives, ones that are all the more attractive as we head into the summer driving season. Automakers have been scrambling to offer family transporters that won’t hurt so much to fill up at the pump. And while none are as thrifty as hybrid sedans such as the «images.businessweek.com» from Toyota («www.businessweek.com»), the current miles-per-gallon champ that gets 48 mpg city/45 mpg highway, buying one of the new crop of smaller, more fuel-efficient, or simply less powerful SUVs or crossovers can still save a lot of money on gas.

As they turn away from traditional, truck-based SUVs, Americans have embraced the crossover/sport wagon category, for which sales in the first quarter rose 2.7% from the year-ago quarter, to almost 600,000, according to Woodcliff Lake (N.J.)-based AutoData. In the same period, total U.S. light-truck sales fell 12.1%, to about 1.8 million. The growth in crossovers came in part at the expense of both traditional SUVs and minivans. Smaller Cousin

Still, parents need to have realistic expectations. Fuel-efficiency is a relative term. For example, a Chevy Suburban 1500 with two-wheel drive and a 5.3-liter, 8-cylinder engine barely ekes out an EPA-estimated 14 mpg city/20 mpg highway. (The four-wheel-drive version with a 6-liter engine does even worse.) It’s slightly smaller cousin, the 4,936-lb. GMC Acadia, which weighs about 670 lb. less and is 11 in. shorter, but also comes with three rows of seats, gets 16 mpg city/24 mpg highway for its two-wheel-drive version—not a huge improvement over the Suburban, but still an improvement. (The EPA estimates that average mileage for the four-wheel-drive Acadia is a marginally lower 16 mpg city/22 mpg highway.)

Naturally, big crossovers with three rows of seats get worse gas mileage than small crossovers, or any smaller, lighter vehicle. But that third row is vital for so many families. Vehicle weight is a big factor. So is engine choice.

The new «www.businessweek.com» crossover from «investing.businessweek.com» with the base four-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive gets an EPA-estimated 19 mpg city/25 mpg highway. That’s good for a vehicle that size, with three rows of seats. The aptly named Journey could be a good choice for a family road trip. But with a six-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive, it gets 15 mpg city/22 mpg highway, not much better than the Suburban. (The base model, the SE, does slightly better at 19 mpg city/25 mpg highway, but with a wimpier 2.4-liter, 173-hp engine.)

“There’s a power-train shift in the four-cylinder area,” said George Pipas, U.S. sales analysis manager for Ford Motor («www.businessweek.com») during an Apr. 1 conference call. “For models where people have a choice, they are opting to an increasing extent for four-cylinders over six,” he said. For instance, he said the four-cylinder version of the «www.businessweek.com» midsize car now accounts for about 70% of sales, as opposed to less than 60% a year ago.