19 February 2021 | 11:58am
StockMarketWire.com - The FTSE 100 was flat at midday a little above 6,600 as investors await Monday s update on the easing of UK coronavirus restrictions and with sterling hovering around two-year highs.
US futures suggested there would be a bit of a recovery on Wall Street after the sell-off seen yesterday.
NatWest reported an operating loss of £351 million for 2020, down from £4.2 billion pre-tax profit last year.
The bank said net impairment charges were £3.2 billion and announced it will pay a dividend of three pence per share.
Its shares rose 1.8% to 174.4p.
Warehouse landlord SEGRO reported a rise in pre-tax profit of 10.8% to £296.5 million for 2020.
19 February 2021 | 07:49am
StockMarketWire.com - Insulation and building envelope business Kingspan reported a rise in profit in 2020, though said the ongoing increase in raw materials would continue and remain a challenge.
For the year ended 31 December 2020, pre-tax profit rose to €459.7 million from €454.4 million, while revenue slipped 2% to €4.6 billion.
Insulated panels, is largest segment, reported a 4% decline in turnover, paced by a weakness in the second quarter of the year.
Free cashflow was up 42% to €479.7 million. 2021 has started well, with performance helped by the strong backlog of activity from last year. Raw material price inflation is a significant ongoing issue to manage, but sentiment across our end markets is positive, the company said.
19 February 2021 | 16:43pm
StockMarketWire.com - The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% at 6,624.02 on Friday despite a currency headwind to its dominant overseas earnings as sterling hit the $1.40 mark
By 4.30pm UK time the S&P 500 was up 0.4% to 3,928.94, clawing back a good chunk of yesterday s losses.
NatWest reported an operating loss of £351 million for 2020, down from £4.2 billion pre-tax profit last year.
The bank said net impairment charges were £3.2 billion and announced it will pay a dividend of three pence per share.
Its shares rose 5.2% to 180.2p.
Warehouse landlord SEGRO reported a rise in pre-tax profit of 10.8% to £296.5 million for 2020.
It said revenue for the year fell to £431.7 million, down from £432.5 million in 2019.