Investors have taken advantage of better than
expected results posted by
Royal Bank of Scotland and cashed in on their
shares .
Although the
bank made a loss of £3.6 billion last year, it actually posted
underlying core business operating profits of £8.3bn, up 89 per
cent on 2008, with £5.7 billion coming from the
investment arm of the bank.
Graham Spooner,
investment adviser at The Share Centre, says that
three-quarters of the trades it has seen today have been sells
after the company's
share price rose by seven per cent.
Referring to the fact that £1.3 billion in bonuses have been handed
out, he commented: While the public is understandably
concerned about bonus payouts,
RBS continues to defend and reward the profitable core of the
business.
Barclays recently reported that it made £11.6 billion in
profits last year, up 92 per cent on 2008.
As a result, it increased its final
dividend for shareholders by 1.5p, bringing it to 2.5p,
although the bank's chief executive and president turned down
their bonuses.
