RBS share price: Group offloads stake in Euroclear

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LON:RBS) has offloaded its stake in financial markets infrastructure firm Euroclear, the bailed-out lender has said. The sale comes ahead of the London-listed bank’s third-quarter results later this week.

RBS’ share price has slipped into the red in today’s session, having given up 0.46 percent to 279.70p as of 09:32 BST, underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.29 percent lower at 7,504.44 points. The group’s shares have added more than 45 percent to their value over the past year, and are up by just under a quarter in the year-to-date.

Euroclear sale

RBS announced in a statement yesterday that it had entered into an agreement to dispose of its entire shareholding in Euroclear to IntercontinentalExchange Holdings. The transaction, which also wrapped up yesterday, involved the sale of 148,349 ordinary shares for a total cash consideration of €275 million (about £245 million).

The FTSE 100 group explained in the statement that the deal was part of the group’s continued reduction of assets, and in line it its plan to strengthen its capital position. RBS has been trimming its non-core operations as it continues with its struggle to return to profitability in the wake of its taxpayer-funded rescue during the financial crisis.

Results preview

RBS is scheduled to update investors on its quarterly performance on Friday and Interactive Investor reports that UBS expects pre-tax profits of £1.1 billion, with a strong quarter for capital generation expected, driven by lower risk-weighted assets in the capital resolution division.

“With target price broadly in line with the current share price, no near-term yield and uncertainty around the cost of any DOJ settlement, [we] remain ‘neutral’,” the analysts said this week, as quoted by the newswire. 

RBS will follow bailed-out peer Lloyds (LON:LLOY) which unveiled a rise in both profits and impairments this morning. 

As of 10:03 BST, Wednesday, 25 October, Royal Bank of Scotland Group share price is 280.03p.