Mixed blessings from the Halifax
Halifax Bank of Scotland actually, the combination of what was the UK's biggest building society and Scotland's second-biggest bank.
HBOS has just announced its full-year figures, with profits down from £5.7bn in 2006 to £5.47bn and the dividend up a chunky 18% to 48.9p (there seems to be a bit of a competition going on among the big banks to see who can raise their dividend the most).
Intriguingly the Halifax bit of the bank lost market share in mortgages in the first half of the year although it says it regained its position in the second half.
Was that shrewd lending (ie, not going down the Northern Rock route) or a marketing cock-up?
The pressure will be on youthful CEO Andy Hornby (Johnny Hornby's brother) to show that he can steer this large mortgage ship through some fairly troubled housing market waters.
Are the regulators behind the game -- again?
You wouldn't know it to look at the markets today (the FTSE 100 set off confidently through 6,100 following a strong performance in the Far East this morning) but, according to some people who ought to know, there's a big economic crisis already and worse to come.
Bank of England deputy governor Rachel Lomax popped up the other day to warn that the outlook for the UK economy had "changed dramatically" because of the credit crunch and that this, combined with inflationary pressures from higher food and commodity prices, indicates that we should all clear off to Australia.
She didn't actually mention the latter bit, of course, but we can all read the tea leaves.
This is a bit odd as Ms Lomax voted for a reduction in interest rates earlier this month, and may well do the same in March as the economy slows. So is inflation such a worry?
Well, the oil price is stuck at around $100 a barrel and food prices, particularly wheat, are going through the roof. One reason offered for this is that Kazakhstan, now there's globalisation for you, has cut back its (allegedly large) exports.
So there are clearly inflationary pressures out there.
But should we (in the West anyway, sorry to be selfish) really worry so much?
Oil prices have risen because a lot of investors have been chasing the price; they've seen stock markets fall so they put the money into commodities.
On top of this, the US North-Eastern coast is suffering its usual cold snap and, as this little corner of the world uses vast amounts of energy, the price goes up. It happens every year.
You could make money as an oil trader just by reading the weather forecast.
Sooner or later, it'll get warmer and the global price will come down. Daft but true.
Higher energy prices will kick in to UK inflation over the next few months (although the government is finally on the tail of the grasping energy companies, thank goodness) but it'll wear off.
The supermarkets will mitigate the effects of food inflation as they fight for market share in a slowing market.
The banks and building societies have still got plenty of money and eventually they'll break ranks and start dishing it out to all and sundry again. That's what they do.
Not everyone thinks this of course. Hector Sants, Financial Services Authority CEO, told the BBC's Robert Peston this morning that the era of cheap loans was over. Hmm; very cheap loans (ie sub-prime loans) backed by special investment vehicles maybe.
So Ms Lomax and her colleagues are crying "wolf". The trouble is, their strategy's showing. They're terrified of inflation rising but fearful of screwing up the economy.
So they're hoping something will turn up (the British way, after all) without them having to slash interest rates.
What might this mean for advertising and marketing expenditure?
Arguably not that much. Most advertisers have cut their costs, including what they pay their various agencies, to the bone so they have a stark choice: stay in the game or get out.
So UK adspend will increase this year, by less than the forecast 6% for the world, but by enough to avoid the meltdown of the early 90s.
And in six months' time we might be wondering what the fuss was all about.
Rudd wields the axe at BAA
BAA (formerly British Airports Authority but now owned by the Spanish construction group Ferrovial) vies with Centrica (owner of British Gas) and certain train operators as Britain's least favourite company.
Last year it brought in City veteran Sir Nigel Rudd as chairman (fresh from selling Boots to private equity) and Rudd has defenestrated CEO Stephen Nelson.
Nelson's job description (he's a former Sainsbury's executive) was probably to make more money from shopping and catering but Heathrow's well-connected business customers have finally had enough of their dysfunctional airport (BAA also owns Gatwick and Stanstead) and Nelson has paid the price.
He's being replaced by former Severn Trent (where Rudd was once a director) and British Airways man Colin Matthews.
It's bad luck on Nelson, with Terminal 5 due to open at the end of March, which should ease BAA's problems somewhat.
But BAA and Ferrovial still have their problems. Protests over a third Heathrow runway continue to mount (although the wretched place needs one if it's going to continue to handle its current and projected volume of traffic) and Ferrovial is having trouble refinancing the £10bn it borrowed to buy BAA.
If new man Matthews is going to move a few shops to fit the passengers in, he's got to make money somewhere else.
Presumably by charging the airlines more to land at Heathrow.
There'll be a few more fireworks before Rudd has sorted this one out.
Stephen Foster is a former news editor of 北京赛车pk10, former editor of Marketing Week and Evening Standard ad columnist. He is a partner in Editorial Partnership and writes the blog and Politics of the Media for Brand Republic.