The HSBC bank today reported a 37% rise in pre-tax profit to £9.6bn ($17.6bn). Overall revenue rose 23% to £26.29bn ($50.59bn).
The HSBC does business in 77 countries, but the UK accounted for 24% of the company’s profits. However, the profits were boosted from the recent acquisitions of US lendor Household, and the Bank of Bermuda, […]

Reuters beat profit forecasts by posting a 52% rise in profits to £198 million.
This is despite that the weakness of the US dollar was blamed for loss of 11% on revenue, which fell from £3.24 billion in 2003 to £2.89 billion in 2004.
Reuters also reported that it had cut costs down by £234 million, debt […]

Icelandic venture capital group Baugur, has approached Somerfield with a £1 billion take-over over, as the VC company continues to try and impress upon the UK market.
Baugur already have a 5% stake in Somerfield, and also bought out the Big Food group in December, giving them control of Iceland supermarkets.
Shares in Somerfield rose nearly 14%, […]

The Bank of England again decided to hold out with a rates freeze, after mixed signals from the British economy.
Despite poor Christmas retail sales and slowed consumer spending, the Halifax and Nationwide reported small increases in the housing market. Inflation also hit 1.6%, the highest figure for six months. And with manufacturing output still strong, […]

Unilever is in moves to restructure the company away from a dual-management, after falls in pre-tax profits of 36%, to 2.9bn euros (£1.99bn).
Despite blaming market conditions for poor results, the company conceded that its dual-management structure hampered decision making
Under the restructuring plans, Patrick Cescau, the UK-based co-chairman, will become group chief executive, while Dutch […]

Barclays, the UK’s third-largest bank, has reported record pre-tax profits of £4.6 billion for 2004.
This represents a 20% rise in profits on 2003.
Barclays’ chief John Varley said the bank had “caught the winds” of a very strong world economy, after particularly strong gains within Barclays Capital investment bank, which itself saw profits rise 25% […]

The UK FTSE 100 index of companies has closed at exactly 5000.0 points.
This marks an important milestone for the index, after highs in 1999 that almost reached 7000 points gave way to a marked slump that reach a low of just over 3200 points in March 2003.
The FTSE 100 had reached above 5000 points […]

Rolls-royce todays announced pre-tax profits up 21% to £345 million.
Sales over 2004 rose by 5% to £5.9 billion, on an order book worth a record £18.9 million, which includes and a 14% growth in engine servicing to £3.2 billion.

According to the Halifax, the value of UK housing stock is now worth over £3.3 trillion.
Most regions saw at least a doubling of value over the decade, with Northern Ireland leading with a rise of 262%, while Scotland saw the lowest increase, of just 112%.
More than one-third of the total property stock value is held […]

In a year of mixed fortunes, the Royal Dutch/Shell group reported the highest ever net profits for a UK-listed company.
As expected, they also downgraded their oil reserves again, after previous scandals of exaggerated figures led to a fundamental reorganisation of the executive board.
Rising oil prices were key to the profits, with crude reaching as much […]