29th Apr 2016 06:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC on Friday said its first-quarter net loss widened after paying a fee to the UK government that will eventually allow the state-backed lender to resume dividends.
RBS's net loss, which included a GBP1.19 billion payment to the government to retire the so-called dividend access share, amounted to GBP968 million in the three months ended March 31, the lender said in a statement, widening from the GBP459 million net loss the corresponding quarter a year earlier. First-quarter pretax profit jumped to GBP421 million from GBP37 million.
The results come after RBS on Thursday warned there is a significant risk it will miss a deadline by which it must sell the UK retail branch network known as Williams & Glyn. A lengthier separation of the 300-branch network from the rest of RBS raises the prospect of higher costs and further delays to returning capital to shareholders.
In February, RBS warned it will probably miss its previous target of resuming capital distributions, such as dividends or share buybacks, in the first quarter of 2017. The UK government still owns roughly 73% of RBS, having sold an initial 5.2% stake at a loss in August 2015.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RBS.L