The Business Matrix: Monday 06 February 2012

Insider fraud sees 14.5% surge in 2011

Insider company fraud rose by 14.5 percent in 2011 on 2010, according to the latest CIFAS Staff Fraud Database. There was a 41 per cent jump in the number of dishonest actions by staff to gain a benefit by theft or deception, such as theft of cash from customer accounts. But last year saw a fall in unauthorised disclosures of personal customer information by staff, according to the CIFAS Staff Fraud Database.

Full impact of UK riots is laid bare

Some 20,000 retail staff were affected by the UK's summer riots, according to the British Retail Consortium's latest Annual Crime Survey. A third of the stores that were affected said their employees were exposed to physical violence and nearly 40 per cent reported cases of verbal abuse. More than eight out of 10 businesses said that their staff are now afraid of future violence, including reprisals.

Week ahead:

Tuesday

GlaxoSmithKline will update the market on its annual results. The drugs maker is expected to post revenues of £27.6bn compared with £28.4bn last time and profits of £8.4bn compared with £4.5bn the previous year, when Glaxo's earnings were hit by a £2.2bn legal charge in the final quarter. There will also be an update on how Glaxo is allocating funding to its 38 "discovery performance units".

Wednesday

Reckitt Benckiser will reveal its annual results. Analysts expect the drugs and household cleaner maker to post revenues of £9.5bn compared with £8.5bn last time, while profits are forecast to climb to £2.4bn from £2.1bn. Reckitt has cautioned that growth was likely to have slowed in the last three months of 2011 due to US health-care reforms and stalled growth of its Suboxone heroin treatment.

Thursday

Miner Rio Tinto to reveal its underlying earnings. They are forecast to increase to $15.3 billion, from $14bn the year before. Analysts think that a share buy-back programme could be announced. Full-year results are also due from BG Group, Rolls-Royce, Shire and SVG Capital. Interim results will come from Diageo, Greencore, Hargreaves Lansdown, McBride and Rank Group.

Friday

All eyes will be on the bonus number when Barclays reports its full-year results on Friday. Its 23,600 investment bankers are expected to share a total bonus pool of around £1.5 billion, after the bank cuts back its awards for 2011 by around a third. Even so the reduction is not expected to make up for the declining fortunes in Barclays Capital, where top-line income is forecast to have fallen by 20 per cent.