Drop in profits expected for Abbey National

Abbey National, the mortgage lender, will also announce results this week, with profits down from pounds 618m to about pounds 585m because of the problems in the housing market. The dividend is likely to rise modestly by about 9 per cent to 11.4p.

Meanwhile, Midland will unveil a sharp recovery in profits in its first full-year results since it was bought by the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. After cutting costs and getting to grips with bad debts, the bank's profits are expected to rise from pounds 8m in 1991 to about pounds 180m for last year.