![\"NatWest:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f518890dc06b31e09cf3dc568813ed50.jpeg\")
NatWest: analysts see strength underneath results that disappointed market Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n NatWest: analysts see strength underneath results that disappointed market Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n
NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG)<\/a> left analysts broadly split after first-quarter results<\/a> that missed expectations but did little to dent confidence in the wider outlook.<\/p>\n Deutsche Bank\u00a0described the update as a \u201csmall miss\u201d, pointing to weaker non-interest income, particularly in markets and debt capital markets, with total income excluding notable items around 2% below consensus.<\/p>\n Profit before provisions was also a 2% miss, though balance sheet growth sees as remaining solid, with loans up 1.96% compared to the fourth quarter of last year.<\/p>\n Shore Capital said\u00a0results from the end of last week \u201cslightly disappointed the market\u201d, with the upgrade to income guidance \u201cmore modest than investors had perhaps hoped\u201d.<\/p>\n Even so, the analysts noted \u201cunderlying business performance remains solid\u201d, supported by cost discipline and capital generation.<\/p>\n Shore Cap said it prefers NatWest to Lloyds on valuation grounds, but favours Barclays over both, given a lower valuation.<\/p>\n UBS took an even more constructive view, with analysts arguing that \u201cweak sentiment provides an opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n Analyst Jason Napier highlighted that while profits were around 4% below expectations, this had not altered the broader investment case, with earnings forecasts nudged higher and loan growth described as \u201cbroad-based and attractive\u201d.<\/p>\n All three\u00a0analysts pointed to resilience in core metrics, with asset quality remaining stable, while impairments included a relatively manageable \u00a3140 million charge linked to economic uncertainty. Capital levels also came in slightly ahead of expectations.<\/p>\n The divergence in views reflects a familiar theme for UK banks. As UBS put it, \u201cIt’s clear that UK bank market fundamentals are\u00a0far stronger\u00a0than business and consumer sentiment implies: UK corporate loans are up 9.1% YoY.\u00a0We expect those fundamentals to prove more defensive to the softer macro outlook than is priced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NatWest: analysts see strength underneath results that disappointed market Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock NatWest Group PLC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21386],"tags":[25411,11948,1477,22719,7955,8176],"class_list":["post-50917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-natwest","tag-analysts","tag-debt-capital-markets","tag-deutsche-bank","tag-expectations","tag-natwest","tag-natwest-group"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116652595114642461","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}