Pre-tax profits of companies that reported annual results between July and September are down by almost 77% to £3.2 billion. The dominant mining sector in particular dragged down FTSE 100 stock profits. BHP Billiton reported a near £5 billion loss, but the smaller mid-cap companies shone. All this is revealed in Profit Watch, the latest quarterly report of earnings from The Share Centre. Nigel Cassidy spoke to Helal Miah, Investment Research Analyst at the Share Centre, to get an insight into the latest profit performance of UK plc: starting with the pressures on the earnings of large multinationals and focusing on BHP Billiton.
