Travis Perkins First-Half Profit Soars By 20%

Travis Perkins saw a surge in the first half of the year as it reported a 19.4% rise in its pre-tax profits.

Britain's biggest supplier of building materials said the increase was boosted by improving market conditions and increased customer confidence.

The company, which also trades as Wickes, City Plumbing, Keyline, Tile Giant and BSS, made a profit of £162.5m before tax in the six months to June 30.

It also saw revenue grow by 11.5% to £2.73bn.

Chief executive John Carter said: "Trading is consistent with our expectation and with lead indicators in our different markets encouraging, the group is expected to show continued solid growth for the remainder of the year."

It comes as Britain's housing market has seen strong recovery this year, benefiting supply firms such as Travis Perkins.

On Wednesday, British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said it would return more money to shareholders as a result of strong demand in the property market.

Recent figures from Land Registry showed that during April the number of completed house sales in England and Wales increased 29% to 66,659, compared with 51,022 in the same period last year.

The data also revealed that properties sold in England and Wales for more than £1m in April increased by 39% to 1,028 - from 740 in April 2013.

However, on Monday, mortgage lender Halifax said Britons are feeling much less positive about buying a house, adding to some suggestions that the housing market is slowing.

Travis Perkins entered the FTSE 100 in June last year.

Shares in the company rose by more than 3% during afternoon trading.

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US Economy Bounces Back After Harsh Winter

The US economy bounced back this spring after enduring a winter of discontent, the latest GDP figures have revealed.

In the quarter between April and June, GDP grew at an annual rate of 4% as the economy saw an increase in consumer and business spending.

The Commerce Department said the rebound came after a crippling 2.1% drop between January and March.

Despite being revised up from a previous estimate of a 2.9% fall for the quarter, the winter period still saw the biggest contraction since early 2009.

On top of higher consumer and businesses spending, the housing industry is also said to have boosted the economy in the last quarter.

The strong growth is welcome news following the dismal start to the year and reinforces some views that the US economy is gaining momentum which will continue into the second half.

US growth fuels speculation that the Fed could raise interest rates sooner

Some analysts have predicted that the back half of the year will see an annual growth rate of around 3%.

The latest GDP figure is the best since the period between July and September last year, when it saw an increase of 4.5%.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, believes growth could accelerate to above 4% in 2015.

He said: "I think we are finally going to start seeing more wage growth and that should kick the economy into high gear by late 2015."

It comes as many economists have been predicting that the Federal Reserve is likely to wait until mid-2015 to start raising interest rates.

But on news of the latest growth, Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said he expects the Federal Reserve will now be inclined to start raising rates early next year.

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Wagging Tails For Pets At Home As Sales Rise

Pets at Home has revealed quarterly revenue growth of more than 10%, amid an ambitious expansion plan.

In an interim management statement, the pet food and accessory retailer said total revenue grew by 10.4% to £210.8m in the 16-week period to July 17.

It said like-for-like sales were up 4.1%, boosted by its VIP Club membership scheme and a growing presence in veterinary practices.

It saw merchandise revenues rise by 9% to £192.5m.

This included an 8.8% growth in food and 9.2% in accessories.

Its VIP loyalty scheme saw a rise from 2 million members at the end of the 2014 financial year to 2.4 million at the end of FY2015 Q1.

Pets at Home Chief Executive Nick Wood said: "Looking ahead, we will continue to seize opportunities to grow and develop Pets At Home and focus on the delivery of our strategy.

"Given the strong first quarter performance, we remain confident in our expectations for the full financial year."

It said 45 new outlets were opened in the quarter.

It currently operates from 386 UK stores as well as almost 300 small veterinary surgeries.

The company plans to grow to over 500 UK stores, with more than 700 veterinary practices.

Pets at Home was one of a host of retailers to take advantage of a buoyant stock market earlier this year.

The company floated on March 12 - on the same day as the discount retailer Poundland.

Although the pet retailer's share price has fallen around a fifth since flotation, investors were buoyed by Wednesday's statement, with shares up more than 5% in midday trading.

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Twitter Share Price Soars As Popularity Grows

Twitter shares have soared after the social network reported rapidly rising user numbers.

In its quarterly report, it said the number of monthly active users had hit 271 million - up 24% year-on-year.

However its quarterly loss widened to $145m (£85.6m) from a $42m (£24m) loss in the same period last year.

Despite this, stock rose by more than 30% in after-hours trading to $49.61 (£29.28).

The results showed that Twitter's income from advertising is up 129% to $277m (£163m).

Chief Executive Dick Costolo said the results were strong

Ads served up on mobile devices accounted for 81% of that revenue.

Adjusted results - which exclude certain expenses and stock compensation - showed a small profit of $15m (£8.8m).

Twitter's chief executive, Dick Costolo, said: "Our strong financial and operating results for the second quarter show the continued momentum of our business.

"We remain focused on driving increased user growth and engagement, and by developing new product experiences, like the one we built around the World Cup, we believe we can extend Twitter's appeal to an even broader audience."

It was the first Twitter earnings call for new chief financial officer Anthony Noto, who is replacing Mike Gupta.

Mr Noto said: "I came here with one belief, that we can build the largest audience in the world."

Twitter's Wall Street debut in November saw stock rise from its $26 (£15) offer price to more than $70 (£41), but the company has been hurt by concerns about slowing growth and doubts on profitability.

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Directors Lobby To Keep Film In Hollywood

Top Hollywood directors are backing a bid to keep celluloid film alive in the movie and television industry.

Kodak is aiming to strike a deal with all of the major studios as it faces stiff competition from digital technologies.

Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams and Quentin Tarantino are among those lobbying for motion-picture film to still be used.

Abrams is currently shooting the new Star Wars: Episode VII on celluloid and Nolan also used it on Interstellar, which stars Matthew McConaughey.

Kodak is "very hopeful that an agreement will be put into place," Kodak spokesperson Louise Kehoe told The Hollywood Reporter.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors in January 2012, after 131 years in business, as the company fell behind rivals in digital photography.

Tarantino and Abrams are backing the deal

It emerged from the protection in August last year but has still seen a huge drop in the amount of linear print film it is manufacturing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that sales have plummeted 96% since 2006, from 12.4 billion linear feet to an estimated 449 million this year.

It has few competitors now after Fujifilm left the business behind last year.

Abrams has previously said that film sets the standard for the "best quality".

The negotiations with studios would involve studios committing to purchasing a certain amount of film without knowing how many, if any, of their movies will be shot on the medium over the next few years.

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Ryanair Told To Pay Back €9.6m In State Aid

Ryanair is facing a legal battle with the European Commission after it was ordered to repay almost €10m (£7.9m) in what was found to be illegal state aid.

The no-frills carrier said it had instructed its lawyers to challenge the Commission's findings in relation to three French regional airports.

Its operations at three German airports were cleared by the inquiry.

The Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said Ryanair would have to repay €868,000 (£686,310) related to rebates and marketing arrangements negotiated at Angouleme airport in central France, from where it had ceased operations in 2009.

It found Ryanair had enjoyed "an undue advantage" and should repay the money so as to "remove the distortion of competition".

Similar findings at Pau Pyrenees airport, which Ryanair stopped using in 2011, required a repayment of €2.4m (£1.9m), with €6.4m (£5.06m) repayable at Nimes airport.

An investigation into Austria's Klagenfurt airport, where airport service and market agreements "appeared to be excessively favourable to Ryanair and therefore could involve incompatible state aid", was continuing.

The airline responded with a statement welcoming the rulings concerning Germany.

Ryanair's director of legal and regulatory affairs, Juliusz Komorek said: "Today's decisions confirm that Ryanair's airport agreements at Niederrhein Airport comply with the EU state aid rules.

"Following the closure of this case and the earlier six positive decisions at Aarhus, Bratislava, Charleroi, Marseille, Berlin Schonefeld and Tampere airports, we will immediately appeal the decisions in (the) Pau, Angouleme and Nimes cases, where the EU Commission mistakenly suggested the airports' agreements with Ryanair did not fully comply with the EU state aid rules.

"Ryanair has to date carried 86.5 million passengers at the seven airports where our commercial arrangements have been confirmed by the EU Commission and the EU Court to comply with EU law, compared to just 3.4 million passengers at the airports where the Commission today suggested the agreements did not comply with state aid rules."

It is not the first time Ryanair has fallen foul of the authorities over the past 12 months.

In October, the operator was ordered to pay fines and damages totalling £6.7m by a French court, which accused it of violating the country's labour laws.

It denied registering workers employed in France as Irish employees, preventing workplace councils from functioning and preventing access to unions.

However, the airline has also prioritised a more customer-friendly approach after coming under fire on issues including charges, compensation and baggage fees.

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Banks Face £1.5bn Hit From PPI Claims Deluge

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Britain's largest high street banks will announce next week that they are setting aside more than £1bn in additional provisions to compensate customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI).

Sky News can exclusively reveal that Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will use their half-year results statements to the City to disclose that the big four lenders' combined bill for the PPI scandal has soared to well over £20bn.

The new provisions are understood to be being driven by an acceleration in the number of claims which relate to PPI policies sold before 2005, and have prompted urgent talks among bank executives about the conduct of claims management companies (CMCs).

Insiders said that the new top-ups could reach close to £1.5bn between the biggest banks.

To date, the PPI scandal has seen Lloyds allocating £9.8bn for compensation; Barclays has set aside £3.95bn; RBS has provided £3.1bn; and HSBC's bill has reached £2.1bn.

The sizeable new top-ups may revive calls for a so-called time-barring exercise, which would involve imposing a cut-off point for consumers to submit compensation claims.

Banking sources said on Tuesday that Barclays would account for the largest percentage of the additional compensation bill but pointed out that that was largely because it had not taken a new provision since last July, whereas some of its rivals had done so earlier this year.

The total PPI bill for Lloyds, which is 25%-owned by taxpayers, is expected to pass £10bn as a result of its new provision.

The final numbers are still being worked out with each lender's auditors, which are understood to be pushing board members to take a conservative approach to the issue by setting aside substantial sums.

The scale of the new bill will surprise many in the City, particularly after the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) said on Monday that new complaints fell by more than 50% during the last three months, prompting it to say that the worst of the scandal had passed.

The FOS said it had received just under 57,000 PPI-related complaints in the second quarter of the year, compared with just over 132,000 in the same period last year.

The latest wave of claims is understood to be particularly concerning to banks because many date back to before 2005, which was the reference point for an unsuccessful judicial review brought by the major banks three years ago.

Executives at major banks argue that the cost of administering even fraudulent or otherwise invalid claims can reach £1000 each, eroding their capital at a time when they are facing political demands to lend more money to small businesses.

Banks are obliged to keep customer records for seven years, meaning that many new claims relate to policies for which neither banks nor customers have an accurate record.

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) had been leading tentative discussions with the City regulator about a cut-off point for claims.

Martin Wheatley, the Financial Conduct Authority's chief executive, told MPs earlier this year that he was sceptical about the prospects of a time-barring exercise.

At the time, the BBA said: "We are working with our members on a number of aspects of PPI complaints. The ongoing work focuses on three issues as a priority: addressing backlogs, making sure that customers can be confident that the offers they receive are right and highlighting that there is no need for them to engage a claims management company.

In January last year, the FCA said it had agreed to talks with the industry about a time limit, but would insist that the banks funded a huge advertising campaign to ensure sufficient awareness of the PPI issue.

The hostility of consumer groups to a deadline appeared to kill any prospect of a deal, and it is unlikely that they would be any more enthusiastic about a deal, analysts suggested.

Barclays, Lloyds and RBS all declined to comment.

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