RBS shares rocket as profits double to £1.6bn

Royal Bank of Scotland has announced profits of £1.6bn for the first quarter of 2014, far surpassing expectations and sending shares soaring over 10%.

For the three months to 31 March, the firm near doubled its profit before tax from £826m in the first quarter of 2013. Operating profit also doubled to £1.5bn, up from £747m last year. This is only the sixth time that the firm has announced a profitable quarter following its government takeover in 2008. The results were better than analysts had expected. They had forecast pre-tax profits of £300m and operating profits of £800m.  In reaction, shares jumped over 10% initially to over 336p. Shore Capital - which rates shares as a hold - said the bank had seen better revenues than e...