National Business News from nebusiness, The Journal and Evening Gazette

RBS falls into the red Aug 05 2011

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland today reported a half-year loss of £794m, compared to a £1.2bn profit last year.Read

Ladbrokes profits slip Aug 04 2011

Bookmaker Ladbrokes reported a slip in profits today but said demand from UK punters was "relatively resilient" despite the squeeze on consumer budgets.Read

Lloyds plunges into the red Aug 04 2011

Taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group swung to a loss in the first half of the year after it took a £3.2bn hit to tackle the payment protection insurance scandal.Read

Next says price pressures easing Aug 03 2011

Clothing retailer Next offered some relief to hard-up shoppers today by signalling a "more benign year" for prices during 2012.Read

Barclays profits dip Aug 02 2011

Banking giant Barclays saw a 33% drop in profits to £2.6bn in the first half of the year as the payment protection insurance scandal took its toll.Read

Shell profits rise by 77% Jul 28 2011

Royal Dutch Shell cashed in on rising energy prices today as it reported profits of nearly £5bn between April and the end of June.Read

Centrica profits jump Jul 28 2011

Utility giant Centrica faced more public outrage today after reporting £1.3bn in half-year profits - including £270m for its residential arm British Gas - just weeks after announcing a price hike.Read

Santander sets up mis-selling payment fund Jul 27 2011

The UK arm of Santander said today that it had set aside more than half a billion pounds to cover the costs of mis-selling payment protection insurance to its customers.Read

UK economy slows Jul 26 2011

Britain’s economy slowed between April and June after new figures today showed the UK grew by 0.2% in the quarter.Read

BP profits below expectations Jul 26 2011

Oil giant BP today reported profits of US$5.3bn (£3.2bn) in the three months to June, compared with a loss of $US16.9bn (£10.3m) for the same period last year.Read

Ryanair warns on high fuel prices Jul 25 2011

Budget airline Ryanair highlighted the pressure of rising fuel costs on the industry today after posting flat profits for its spring quarter.Read

Egg online bank broken up Jul 25 2011

One of the UK’s first and best-known internet banks was broken up today in a move threatening up to 600 jobs.Read

Vodafone 'on track' Jul 22 2011

Mobile phone giant Vodafone said today it remained on track despite the economic storm buffeting its southern Europe markets.Read

easyJet to beat expectations Jul 22 2011

Budget airline easyJet today said its profits were set to beat expectations after its new strategy, which includes appealing to more business passengers, started to bear fruit.Read

Energy prices to rise Jul 21 2011

Millions of customers of Scottish and Southern Energy face higher bills from September after the group became the third of the major suppliers to raise prices.Read