Profits up but pay stagnates

Wage rises stall at just one per cent

BIG firms are imposing punishing pay squeezes despite profits rising at the fastest rate for six years.

Research by The Share Centre found 170 of the UK’s largest companies reported combined annual profits of nearly £68billion between January and March.

The figure was a hefty 23 per cent more than 2015 and the highest since 2010.

Yet workers face the lowest pay rises for more than three years. Employers are set to offer an average wage rise of just one per cent this year, according to a survey of 1060 firms by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The Bank of England last week slashed their forecast for average pay increases from three per cent to two per cent. That would be outstripped by inflation, meaning a real-terms pay cut for millions.

Figures out today are predicted to show the annual rate of inflation jumped from 2.3 per cent to around 2.7 per cent in April. A combination of rising air fares, energy price hikes and higher grocery bills is forecast to push the consumer prices index – the Government’s preferred measure of living costs – to a three-anda-half-year high.

The Share Centre said the weak pound had boosted the overseas profits of many big companies.

Mining firms saw the largest jump in annual profits – up 67 per cent – followed by pharmaceutical companies and house builders.

It came as a rise in oil prices saw the FTSE index of the UK’s 100 biggest companies hit a record high yesterday.

Helal Miah, research analyst at The Share Centre, said big firms were “well positioned for the improving trading conditions that will accompany the uptick in global growth”. up 18.9 at 7454.4 GlaxoSmithKline Halfords Hays HSBC Imperial Brands International Airlines Grp ITV Kingfisher Land Securities Legal & General Lloyds Marks & Spencer Morrison National Grid Next Old Mutual Pearson Prudential Reckitt Benckiser RELX 1658.5 358.9 173.8 685.2 3662.5 600.0 192.5 349.0 1131.0 256.7 69.4 374.9 241.9 1046.0 4264.0 196.5 695.0 1765.0 7363.0 1612.0 -6.5 -0.5 +0.3 +7.1 -54.5 +1.0 +0.3 -0.9 -1.0 +1.4 +0.7 -2.4 -0.4 +3.0 -81.0 +1.8 -3.0 +5.5 +7.0 -13.0 Oil = $53.13 Rentokil Initial Rio Tinto Rolls-Royce Royal Mail RSA RBS J Sainsbury SSE Severn Trent Serco Sports Direct Shell Sky Smith & Nephew Smith WH Stagecoach Standard Chartered Standard Life TalkTalk Taylor Wimpey Tesco 257.3 3019.5 854.0 424.9 614.5 262.0 266.7 1444.0 2429.0 119.7 304.6 2204.0 997.5 1319.0 1741.0 212.2 766.9 392.1 170.8 196.6 178.2 -1.9 +49.5 -9.5 -5.6 -2.0 +3.3 +1.9 0.0 -6.0 0.0 -0.1 +10.5 +1.0 -2.0 -7.0 -1.4 +21.3 -0.5 +2.5 +0.5 -0.7 THE owners of holiday giants Thomson say bookings remain “resilient” despite Brexit.

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