UK non-financial companies' profitability edged up in the first quarter of 2006, putting them on course for another record-breaking year, official figures showed on Tuesday. The Office for National Statistics said the net rate of return on non-financial UK companies was 14.4 percent in the three months to March from 14.3 percent in the last three months of 2005.
The data also showed that 2005 was the best year for company profits since records began in 1965, with the net rate of return at 14.4 percent. Oil companies led the way as they reaped windfall profits on the back of soaring world-wide energy costs.
The rises in profitability failed to match the UK's blue chip FTSE 100 index, however.
Over 2005 the FTSE added 16.7 percent while brisk gains from miners and oil firms helped push the top tier index through the 6,000 barrier by March as it put on around 7.2 percent in the first quarter.
A Treasury spokesman said that even excluding energy firms, 2005 was the best year for UK companies since 1998. Service companies net rate of return rose to 19.9 percent in the first three months of this year - also the highest since 1998 - from 18.1 percent in the three months to December 2005. But manufacturers fared less well, with profitability dropping to 6.6 percent from 9.9 percent.
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