The UK's top share index dipped on Friday after bank RBS and airline operator IAG tumbled following their results, sending the FTSE 100 to a slight weekly loss. Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 index closed down 0.11 percent at 7,244 points.
A number of big, earnings-driven falls weighed on the blue chips. Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland were the biggest fallers, down 4.8 percent and on track for their biggest one-day drop in nearly one year after the bank reported its full year results.
While RBS posted its first profit in a decade, analysts flagged higher-than-expected restructuring costs and a large misconduct fine. IAG was another big faller, down 5.7 percent after the British Airways operator reported annual figures.
Analysts at Liberum said that while IAG's results were in line with their forecasts, revenue was a little light and fuel costs came in worse than expected. However, Pearson's update was well-received by investors, with shares in the educational publisher rising 0.7 percent.
Pearson has been grappling with the switch to digital from paper textbooks, issuing a series of profit warnings along the way. Analysts at Investec said that while they were encouraged by certain aspects such as Pearson's cost savings and double-digit digital sales, Pearson has yet to prove itself in terms of its new generation of digital personalised learning products.
BT's shares were the top performers with the telco rising 5 percent after UK regulator Ofcom unveiled new rules on the roll-out of full-fibre broadband, saying that it would not regulate the prices of BT's Openreach superfast broadband products. Elsewhere deal-making was in focus, with shares in mid cap Phoenix Group rising more than 7 percent to the top of the index after Standard Life Aberdeen agreed to sell it the bulk of its insurance unit. SLA's shares rose initially and then retreated 2.5 percent.
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