Lloyds Says It Can Maintain Lending Margins Despite Low Rates

Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, said it expects to maintain lending margins next year and reassured investors on its outlook for dividends.

The bank’s net interest margin should hold steady around 2.7 percent in 2017 even as the Bank of England keeps interest rates at record-low levels, and the firm will generate enough capital to pay a higher dividend for this year, Chief Financial Officer George Culmer said on a call with analysts on Wednesday. The stock rose, after earlier dropping as much as 3.8 percent on a decline in third-quarter profit.

“As we look forward now, we feel pretty good” about the outlook for net interest margin, Culmer said on the call. The measure, which is the difference between income from l

Glaxo’s Profit Beats Estimates; Sales of New Products Surge

GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the U.K.’s biggest drugmaker, reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as sales of its new HIV treatments and respiratory treatments accelerated, helped by the decline of the pound.

Earnings per share excluding certain costs rose 39 percent to 32 pence from a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. That beat the 29.4-pence average of 12 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Stock futures down as Apple, oil prices drop

U.S. stock index futures were lower for the second straight day on Wednesday following Apple's disappointing quarterly sales and a dip in oil prices.Shares of the world's most valuable public company (AAPL.O) were off 3.4 percent in heavy premarket trading after the company said sales of its flagship iPhones fell for the third quarter in a row.