RBS Executives Push Share Sale Amid Unexpected Profit Drop
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc executives said the government may start reducing its 81 percent stake as soon as next year even as the bank posted a bigger-than-estimated decline in first-quarter operating profit.
Operating profit declined to 829 million pounds ($1.3 billion) in the first quarter from 1.16 billion pounds a year earlier, Edinburgh-based RBS said in a statement today. That missed the 1.2 billion-pound estimate of six analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The shares fell as much as 8.9 percent in London, the biggest drop since June 28.