BANKS and oil companies are expected to provide contrasting outlook statements this week as Britain's two largest oil companies report during a period of record prices, and the UK's largest mortgage lender updates on the weakness of the sector.
A public holiday in the Netherlands means Royal Dutch Shell will report its first quarter results tomorrow, the same day as rival BP.
Both companies' upstream business will be helped by record oil prices of more than $100 a barrel, but investors i
n BP will be hoping for shoots of recovery following the group's difficult year in 2007. They may also look for evidence of chief executive Tony Hayward's pledge to "close the performance gap" with rivals after annual profits fell by more than a fifth.
Hayward set out his stall in February with a 25 per cent dividend hike to cheer his beleaguered shareholders and plans to cut 5,000 of its 97,000 employees.
A consensus of analysts predict "clean" first-quarter profits of $5.27 billion (£2.67bn), almost a third more than last year.
Royal Dutch Shell, meanwhile, prompted outrage after it reported a record $27.6bn (£13.9bn) for 2007 and it is expected to have kept up the profits momentum into the new year.
Profits are set to be 22 per cent ahead at $6.77bn (£3.43bn) for the first quarter.
But it has not been all plain sailing for the group this year after militants stepped up attacks on its operations in the Niger delta. The group also cut 180 jobs in Aberdeen last week as part of an efficiency overhaul.
While oil continues to prosper, banks continue to take more pain from the credit crunch and a weak housing market, with the second factor expected to define this week's trading statement from Halifax Bank of Scotland, which will accompany tomorrow's annual meeting with shareholders. Edinburgh-based HBOS, the UK's largest mortgage lender, is believed to be considering following Scottish rival Royal Bank of Scotland in conducting a rights issue to strengthen its balance sheet.
Elsewhere Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, is expected to report underlying pre-tax profits of £204.9m for 2007, despite a raft of disposals, including the £925m sale of David Lloyd Leisure in August last year.
Finally, Home Retail Group, owner of the Argos and Homebase chains, is expected to give another sign of the troubles on the high street, with a 14 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £430m, accompanied with a weak trading statement.
INTERNATIONAL ARM PROPS UP STANDARD LIFE STANDARD Life will present new business figures for the first three months of the year on Wednesday, with its international arm expected to prop up a dip in UK business.
According to figures supplied by the company based on a poll of 11 analysts, worldwide life and pension sales are expected to be £4.08 billion, down by less than 1 per cent on the start of 2007. But the consensus for UK life and pensions is for a fall of 3 per cent, or £92 million, to some £3.21bn.
The shortfall is expected to be made up from 15 per cent growth in SL's European business and 7 per cent expansion in Canada.
Standard Life Investments – the Edinburgh company's fund management arm – is also expected to feel an impact from the credit crunch, with total investment net inflows expected to have fallen 85 per cent to £350m.
The full article contains 591 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
