Banks will be releasing third quarter results this week with their shares trading near their highest levels in years and the Chancellor considering a new tax.
More than £6 billion was wiped off the value of British banks in August when it emerged the Chancellor may impose a levy on the sector to help fill a black hole in the public finances.
However, this has not knocked them off course for a strong year despite other setbacks.
Investors will also want to hear more about provisions for the motor finance scandal which Lloyds has already acknowledged will swallow another £800 million in compensation costs relating to the car financing and commissions investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority.
That takes the total to £2 billion, following the provisions taken in Q4 2023 and then Q4 2024.
Chief executive Charlie Nunn is unlikely to discuss dividends until the full-year results in early 2026.
NatWest (RBS), which reports on Friday, reported strong half-year results in July and an increased interim dividend of 9.5 pence per share.
With inflation figures on Wednesday expected to show prices growing at 4%, investors will be keen for any comments on the levels of confidence among business and consumer customers.
Wood Group
The engineering company is urging shareholders to back changes to its borrowing limits at a general meeting on Thursday so that it can proceed to a vote next month on the proposed takeover by Dubai group Sidara.
The Aberdeen company’s board has warned that failure to support the borrowing changes could scupper the deal.
In a statement on 7 October it warned that a breach of the borrowing limit ‘would have serious and adverse implications for the day-to-day use of the company’s existing debt facilities and the debt facilities… relating to the recommended cash acquisition of the company by Sidara.”
DIARY
Monday 20 October
- Rightmove UK house price index
Tuesday 21 October
- Trading updates from SEGRO, XP Power
- UK Government monthly borrowing
Wednesday 22 October
- Trading update from Aberdeen Group
- UK inflation
- Quarterly results or trading updates from Barclays, Fresnillo and Reckitt Benckiser
Thursday 23 October
- General meeting: Wood Group
- Trading update: AJ Bell, Bloomsbury Publishing, Dunelm, Foxtons, InterContinental Hotels Group, Kerry Group, Lloyds Banking Group, London Stock Exchange Group, Rentokil Initial, St James’s Place
- EU consumer confidence
Friday 24 October
- Quarterly results from NatWest
- GfK UK consumer confidence
- Flash purchasing managers’ indices for services and manufacturing industries
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