London pre-open: RBS to take centre stage

6th Aug 2010 07:35

London's blue chips are expected to make a good start to the last trading session of the week, with Royal Bank of Scotland likely to dominate the morning headlines after the bank returned to the black.Traders anticipate Footsie to add around 22 points in early dealings.Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is "on track" to achieve goals set out in its five-year recovery plan after posting a pre-tax profit of £1.16bn for the second quarter of 2010. The bank, which lost £21m in the first quarter and made a small profit of £59m this time last year, made £1.14bn for the half-year, up from a paltry £15m in the first six months of 2009. There was an operating profit of £869m for the three months to 30 June compared with a loss of £3.35bn in the second quarter of 2009 as impairment losses fell to £2.49bn from £4.66bn a year ago.South African insurer Old Mutual saw operating profit before tax jump 43% in the first half, thanks to a strong performance particularly in the South African retail markets and in Wealth Management. The group also announced it agreed to sell its US Life operations to affiliates of Harbinger for $350m. Software group Logica is reviewing its UK public sector business as it expects new projects will be slow in the second half, though its guidance for the year is unchanged. Underlying interim profits dipped slightly to £125m from £127m in the half-year to June, on revenues down 1% at £1.87bn. Pre-tax profits, excluding one-offs, rose to £86m from £24m.