Friday preview: RBS confirms first half results

31st Jul 2014 16:36

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will on Friday cap off a busy week of banking results with its first half earnings.A week ahead of the results, the company said it expects pre-tax profits to double to £2.65bn for the first six months, citing an improved economy and more confidence among consumers and businesses. The bank also said it had put aside less money for bad loans than it expected with £269m, down from £2.15bn.The group set aside less than it expected for compensation including £150m for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims and £100m for other mis-selling claims.RBS said it gave a taste of its results early as they were significantly stronger than the market was expecting."These results show that underneath all the noise and huge restructuring of recent years, RBS is a fundamentally stronger bank that can deliver good results for customers and shareholders," McEwan said in a statement.The full results will follow earnings from Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group, which both impressed analysts in the first half. Later in Friday's session, the attention will turn to the release of US non-farm payrolls. The official government data is expected to show that US employers added 231,000 jobs in July, after 288,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate is forecast to hold at 6.1%.The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring jobs data to gauge whether the US economic is healthy enough to sustain an interest rate hike. Other notable US releases include the University of Michigan's consumer confidence report and ISM's manufacturing figures. Friday 1 AugustINTERIMSCapital & Counties Properties , Direct Line Insurance Group, IMI, Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore Reg), Jardine Strategic Holdingd Ltd. (Singapore), Man Group, Rentokil Initial, Rexam, Robert Walters, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Smith & Nephew, UBM, Vesuvius, William HillINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEDriver Group, Heavitree Brewery, Heavitree Brewery 'A' Shares, TP5 VCT 'B' SharesQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEMercantile Investment Trust (The), Torchmark Corp., Verizon CommunicationsINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSAuto Sales (US) (15:00)Construction Spending (US) (15:00)ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00)ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)Personal Income (US) (13:30)Personal Spending (US) (13:30)PMI Manufacturing (EU) (09:00)PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55)U. of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US) (14:55)Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)Q2Smith & NephewANNUAL REPORTM&G High Income Inv Trust Income & Growth UnitsSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEElectronic Data ProcessingAGMSHyder Consulting, Vedanta ResourcesUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPMI Manufacturing (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAlpha Real Trust Ltd., API Group, Bisichi Mining, British Smaller Companies VCT, Brown (N.) Group, Carphone Warehouse Group, CML Microsystems, De La Rue, Dee Valley Group, Dee Valley Group (Non-Voting), Grafenia , Halfords Group, Homeserve, KCOM Group, Next, Shanks Group, TalkTalk Telecom Group , Tate & Lyle, Telecom Plus, United Utilities Group, Vianet Group, Workspace GroupRD