Bank statements take spotlight with bad debts under control

Published on Friday 24 June 2005 12:01

IN A week with no discernible trends, the news was largely dominated by banks.

Lloyds TSB said it expected to deliver a satisfactory performance for the first half of 2005, with bad debt charges remaining stable.

But the group, which owns insurer Scottish Widows and Cheltenham & Gloucester, expressed concern that growth in consumer lending over the same period could fall compared to recent years.

Group chief executive Eric Daniels said the company was continuing to make progress against its objective to deliver sustained earnings growth "despite signs of a slowing consumer environment".

Elsewhere, former building society Alliance & Leicester also announced low levels of arrears on mortgages and other loans, while signalling flat first-half revenue. Gross lending at 1.5 billion in the first quarter of the year gave A&L a market share of 2.7 per cent, down on the three per cent seen at the year end.

• Publishing and media company Emap agreed to buy the remaining 73 per cent stake of Scottish Radio Holdings that it does not already own for 391 million. In a separate deal, Emap agreed to sell SRH's 45-strong newspaper division to regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press.

• Britain's dominant fixed-line telecoms firm BT Group escaped break-up by the regulator after agreeing to open its network to rivals and cut wholesale prices in exchange for lighter regulation. It agreed with Ofcom a set of undertakings that would guarantee rivals equal access to its local network.

• Edinburgh-based law firm Anderson Strathearn said it expects income to increase by 15 per cent this year. The group's chairman, Robert Carr, is completing plans to allow the company to embark on its next phase of growth.

• Department store group House of Fraser, which recently bought Jenners, announced it was in "advanced" talks to buy smaller rival James Beattie.

• BDO Stoy Hayward's Industry Watch study showed that more businesses were failing because of a slowdown in economic growth and the latest series of interest rate rises. It added that the trend is likely to continue throughout 2006.

• GW Pharmaceuticals, the UK's only legalised grower of cannabis, announced the launch of its first cannabis-based treatment for multiple sclerosis in Canada.

• The latest jobs report from Bank of Scotland showed that businesses in Scotland are struggling to find sufficient numbers of full-time staff, although there was an improvement in market conditions for the 22nd consecutive month.

• Planned reforms in EU company audit procedures were slammed by a powerful group of company directors which believes the new rules could stop the best people from serving on audit committees.

• Betfair, the world's biggest person-to-person betting exchange, galloped to an 87 per cent rise in underlying full-year profit, amid speculation of a stock market flotation.

• Britain's biggest engineering consultancy, WS Atkins, announced flat full-year figures but, with a strong order book, said future prospects remain good.

• Doubts were cast as to whether Chancellor Gordon Brown will meet his borrowing forecast, as Britain's debt soared to 8.7bn last month.

• Transport giant Stagecoach posted a strong full-year performance after a good showing from its rail division. And the rail and bus operator, which has been expanding its operations, predicted further growth this year.

• Dixons announced it was to change its name to DSG International as it reported an eight per cent drop in annual pre-tax profits to 336.8m - in line with expectations.

• Engineering services company Amec signalled plans to expand its presence in the nuclear industry after snapping up nuclear services firm NNC Holdings in a 25.3m deal.

• Banking giant HBoS announced the retirement of Bank of Scotland governor George Mitchell. In addition, as part of a boardroom reshuffle, it also confirmed the promotion of retail head Andy Hornby to chief operating officer.