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Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) shares climbed by 3.40% to 258.60p after the company revealed that it would pay its first dividend in a decade. The firm will pay an interim dividend of 2p a share, despite total income falling by 3.1% to £6.7 billion over the first half of the year. Management said that they would not be paying any additional dividends until 2019, but they aim to build up to “a regular dividend pay-out ratio in the order of 40%“.
Operating profits for the second quarter were £613 million, roughly half what they were in the same period of last year but ahead of analysts’ forecasts. Net interest income was squeezed to £2.5 billion as competitive pressures pushed down on margins. RBS management have left their full year guidance unchanged.