Best profits for UK plc in five years as sales grow

UK-listed companies reporting annual results in the second quarter of 2017 notched their best pre-tax profits since 2012, but the outlook is far gloomier, a study published today has found.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Aug 2017, 08:28 BST
Updated 12th Sep 2017, 11:10 BST

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But The Share Centre said the outlook was 'much murkier'. Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty ImagesBut The Share Centre said the outlook was 'much murkier'. Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
But The Share Centre said the outlook was 'much murkier'. Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

The latest Profit Watch UK report from The Share Centre said there was a 41.3 per cent year-on-year jump in pre-tax profits to £22.7 billion as sales and margins improved, with miner Vedanta contributing two-thirds of the growth as it swung to a £1bn profit.

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The firms, covering many consumer-oriented, industrial and telecom businesses, saw sales grow 5.7 per cent, marking the fastest rise since 2014. The weaker pound accounted for only one percentage point of the increase.

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Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, outlined a “much murkier” picture ahead, adding: “The UK economy is slowing so even those companies that performed extremely well recently may not continue to do so.”

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