Standard Chartered turns record profit August 4, 2010 STANDARD Chartered beat expectations with record half-year profits of $3.12bn (£1.96bn) as bad debts more than halved and its key Asian markets fared better than those in the west. Standard Chartered said its pre-tax profit for the first six months of the year was up ten per cent from last year, and came in just [...]
Lloyds reports £1.6bn profit August 4, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group has reported a return to profit for the first half of the year – fuelled by a fall in the amount set aside to cover bad loans. Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June came in at £1.6bn, compared with a £4bn loss in the same period a [...]
FSA fines RBS £5.6m over risk controls August 3, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Royal Bank of Scotland £5.6m for major breaches in its risk controls which could have facilitated terrorist financing. The FSA said that RBS, which is 83 per cent-owned by the British government, did not have adequate systems and controls in place to prevent breaches of UK financial sanctions. “By [...]
Construction slumps to a four-month low August 3, 2010 CONSTRUCTION sector activity in Britain slowed in July to a four-month low as firms’ confidence about the future deteriorated due to concerns about public spending cuts, a survey of purchasing managers showed. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply construction PMI fell to 54.1 in July from 58.4 in June, suggesting that expansion in the [...]
JC Flowers to take 50pc stake in Kent Reliance August 3, 2010 BUYOUT firm JC Flowers has said it would take a £50m stake in Kent Reliance as part of a restructuring plan. Under the deal, Kent Reliance’s assets and liabilities would be transferred to a new bank, which would become a subsidiary of a new mutual organisation, the Kent Reliance Provident Society. JC Flowers would receive [...]
Xstrata to pump $5bn into new mines August 3, 2010 Mining group Xstrata said it would pump over $5bn (£3.14bn) into new mines and keep targeting organic growth rather than acquisitions, after more than doubling first-half earnings per share on higher metals prices. Xstrata – the world’s biggest exporter of coal used in power plants – said it had approved $4.2bn to build the Las [...]
Taylor Wimpey returns to profit August 3, 2010 Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey swung to a first-half profit and said trading is satisfactory. The company kicked off first-half results from British housebuilders by posting a pretax profit before exceptional items of £19.6m, compared with a loss of £68.9m in the same period last year. After exceptional items, its profit reduced for the six months to [...]
Northern Rock’s “bad bank” back in black August 3, 2010 Northern Rock Asset Management , the remnants of Britain’s first major victim of the credit crisis, said it had returned to profit in the first half of the year after heavy losses a year ago. Northern Rock’s so-called “bad bank” – one of the two legal entities into which the original company was split – [...]
ITV reports £97m profit as it moves into pay-TV August 3, 2010 ITV said it will move into pay-television through a deal with Sky to launch high definition versions of its some of its digital channels. The broadcaster unveiled the plans as it announced a half-year profit of £97m. ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD, and ITV4 HD will launch as part of Sky+HD’s subscription package of channels in [...]
UK manufacturing growth slows August 2, 2010 GROWTH in Britain’s manufacturing sector eased slightly in July, with euro zone wobbles weighing on exports, but the figure still beat forecasts and remained indicative of buoyant growth in the sector. There was also a sharp slowing in both input and output price inflation, something that should help reassure Bank of England policymakers that inflation [...]
