Lloyds bank has today rebounded from a £4 billion loss in the first six months of last year to a £1.6 billion profit in the first 6 months of 2010, which is double what analysts were forecasting. One of the major factors in the startling turnaround in Lloyds bank was the reduction in bad debt charges down from £13.4 billion last year to "just" £6.5 billion this year. It was interesting to see that Eric Daniels, the company's chief executive, commented upon the level of business and liquidity suggesting that the bank was "open to any customer".
Northern Rock, the former darling of the UK mortgage arena, would appear to have recovered from lows hit during the recession to report a profit of £200 million for the first six months of 2010. The company was split into two different entities by the UK government, the retail division (which reported a loss of £142 million) and the so-called "bad bank" division (which reported a profit of £349 million) although the results were issued on a combined basis.
Lloyds Bank is this week expected to announce profits of £800 million for the six months ended June 2010 against a loss of £4 billion during the corresponding period last year. The company, which is 41% owned by the UK government, would appear to have manufactured a magnificent turnaround in profitability but is this at the expense of the small business arena?
Mark Prisk, the UK government's business and enterprise Minister, has today introduced a very interesting topic into the small business arena. As the liquidity crisis continues in the UK financial arena he believes that some small businesses should be looking to swap equity for additional funding in the short to medium term. While this is commonplace in the property sector it is not something that many small business owners would automatically consider.
European stock markets are today stronger amid signs that the European economic downturn may not be as bad as first thought with manufacturing figures better than expected. It was the revision of the monthly manufacturing purchasing managers index, for 16 countries within the Euro zone, which caught the eye of investors having been revised upwards from 56.5 to 56.7 with anything above 50 indicating that the sector is expanding.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is this week expected to announce further asset sales of around £4.3 billion in a move which was expected by analysts and will further focus the group's attention on its core banking operations. The company is set to confirm the sale of 318 Royal Bank of Scotland branch is to Santander for around £1.8 billion and a further £2 billion will be raised by the sale of the company's Global Merchant Services division to Advent International.
Analysts expect the top 5 banks in the UK to announce profits for the first half of 2010 in the region of £8.4 billion, something that will again put the sector back in the spotlight. This comes at a time when the UK government is looking to introduce new taxes to reduce bonuses and remuneration packages in a sector which continues to thrive despite the fact the consumers and business in the UK are still struggling to get over the worst of the recession. So will the UK government actually make a difference this time?
Lisa Tchenguiz, the wife of Vivian Imerman, has been refused permission by the law courts to use documents obtained secretly to support her divorce settlement demands. This is the latest in a long line of controversial divorce cases ending up in the courts although this one could have repercussions for many people in the future.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today confirmed that in the future new rules on remuneration will relate to 2,500 companies in the UK as opposed to just 27 at the moment. The "new" remuneration code will bring in a number of factors currently being discussed by the European Union and effectively end a period of "rewards for failure". So will this end excessive risk-taking?
The FTSE 100 index today moved higher on the back of strong results from AstraZeneca, Rolls-Royce, BAE systems, Cobham and BT. The index has been fairly volatile over the last couple of months although over the last couple of weeks there has been a significant rebound in investor confidence and indeed in the FTSE 100 index. However, is this really a turning point for the UK economy?
