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A good indication perhaps.
British bank NatWest (LON:NWG) confirmed Paul Thwaite as its permanent chief executive on Friday and reported forecast-beating profit for 2023, as it gears up for a crunch sale of state-owned stock in the company after a scandal-hit year.
The taxpayer-backed lender reported pre-tax profit of 6.2 billion pounds ($7.81 billion) for the 12-month period, up 20% on 5.1 billion pounds the prior year and ahead of a 5.95 billion pounds average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank.
UK pay growth has slowed to its lowest level for more than a year but it is still outpacing rising prices.
Pay, excluding bonuses, grew by 6.2% in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period a year before, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Recession what recession? With low unemployment figures and wages outstripping inflation, we are, what is called, OK mate.
JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L) has raised prices across its bar and food menus, with a pint costing as much as £7.30 at some pubs.
On average, all bar and food product prices have gone up 3% this month.
A spokesperson for the pub chain said: “Most prices in Wetherspoon pubs have increased by 3.95% from Thursday 1 February 2024.
Barclays (BARC.L) is in the early stages of considering a bid for Societe Generale's (SOGN.PA) UK private bank, in an effort to expand its business targeting wealthy individuals.
SocGen, advised by Rothschild & Co, has begun inviting bidders to take part in an auction for its Kleinwort Hambros unit.
London-based Kleinwort Hambros, which in 2022 had more than 12 billion pounds ($15 billion) in assets under management, could be worth up to 700 million pounds in a sale, one of the people estimated.
Among those invited to bid for the unit are Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), as well as wealth manager Raymond James (RJF.N).
We may already be out of recession, it may have ended December last year.
Indications are that the country has returned to growth this year so far. We will know at the end of March when the figures are released.
If that is the case, what's all the fuss about? Did you have a miserable Christmas because of a recession?
-0.3%, is that it! The last Labour government beat that with -2.2% and it lasted 1¼ years.
Economic optimism abounds, apart from the morons on the Lloyds BB.
The number of registered company insolvencies may be higher but as the report suggests the hangover from the covid years (furlough kept so many going and was systematically abused by many), and the return to normal interest rates were the main contributory factors.
On the plus side there were the ever increasing numbers of new businesses, record numbers in fact.
It's a natural turnover, peep's keep forgetting the world shutdown end of 2019/2020.
“importing the poverty and destroying enterprise and wealth creation”
Gunsup, sounds to me like you're describing Blair's core policy. That's where it all started.
“Analysts expect these firms, collectively known as the Big Four, to rake in as much as £47bn in profit between them on the back of higher interest rates.”
I expect the labour leeches have already seen this figure and are rubbing their hands. There's enough here to finance their flip flopping £28 billion major policy green agenda that they ditched and left in tatters the other day.
Profit is a dirty word in their land. They call it a windfall tax against the Banks, and the energy companies and the feckless will support it. As usual we'll all pay in the end.
Peeps talking about the flight from the UK market, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Investing in foreign stocks, no associated tax benefit for doing so.
fleccy.
How would that work when investing in regional funds which includes the UK?
I agree with your comments on the stamp duty costs. However it's still a bind when you're instantly in negative territory, at least more than just the spread and dealing costs.
When recording trades I always note the SP not at the actual trade price but including all the associated costs.
“I am not poor!
Furthermore, I have a quality of life, you could not even dream of”
Be careful Sticky you're beginning to sound like a capitalist.
Firstly, you know nothing about my quality of life.
It's not always about wealth, it's contentment. The way you come across you have someway to go in that department.
I'm pleased for you that you qualify as a champagne socialist, best keep it to yourself then when spouting about the poor and injustices.
“good old socialist ideology”
Very true ATISHA, they're not two faced, they're fifty faced.
Meanwhile poor old Sticky, the outcast in Spain, continues to pluck soundbites from various websites to try and make some sort of justification for the socialist dream. Whatever that is.
Actually you nailed it with your last post ATISHA. “Just look at Blair and Kinnocks' wealth,” they're definitely living the socialist dream.
"All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting 'the rich' to pay 'their fair share' is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics."
The comments from mick-b and STP on this, only confirms Thomas Sowell’s quote.
But then the left has always had a problem with wealth, while quietly accumulating their own.
What would be the point of a UK only ISA? The only benefit to the likes of us would be the scrapping of the 0.5% stamp duty if that was a reality, on that subject he was decidedly non committal. If it's an ISA only benefit it could be done within existing ISA's which have more flexibility for alternative markets.
I guess they're thinking, once you have opened a UK only ISA you won't transfer it or more probably won't be able to transfer to the current existing ISA. In other words you'll be trapped in.
Just thinking out loud.
NuckyT could do with some Viagra as it has been disclosed that it can help with dementia. His comments here just don't add up. Latest is that it's “not worth the time or effort.”
He doesn't know if he's invested in Lloyds or not.
Bizarre indeed.