The ONS key points following their report out this morning:UK companies at their most profitable since 1998
Better financial picture for UK companies reflects broader economic improvement in the second quarter
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... since-1998" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Who's getting the profits then? I've not looked at the spreadsheets yet - I received the ONS report from my e-mails this morning. Who's benefiting from the profitability of UK companies? Regular workers haven't seen great pay increases. That's the reason I ask the question.Private non-financial corporations’ profitability, as measured by their net rate of return, was estimated at 11.8% in Q2 2014. This is at the higher end of the quarterly range experienced during the last five years.
Manufacturing companies’ net rate of return was estimated at 12.1% in Q2 2014, 0.5 percentage points higher than Q1 2014.
Service companies’ net rate of return was estimated at 15.6% in Q2 2014. This is the highest estimated rate since Q3 2003 (15.3%).
UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) companies’ net rate of return was 16.9% in Q2 2014. This is the lowest estimated rate since the series began in Q1 1997.
Non-UKCS companies’ net rate of return was 11.6% in Q2 2014. This is the highest rate since Q4 1998 (12.0%).
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pnfc2/pro ... Key-Points" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Not all is a simple as that - I've only perused ONS data a bit more & the picture isn't as clear as the headlines make it sound - but that's to be expected, I suppose.