Net Profit is the residual income of a firm after adding total revenue and gains and subtracting all expenses and losses for the reporting period.
After all costs have been taken into account, including taxes and non cash items such as Depreciation and Amortisation, you are left with Net Income, or Earnings.
This amount is taken to Retained Earnings on the Balance Sheet at the end of every year and it is from this pool of Retained Earnings that companies pay dividends in accounting terms.
This means that in order to pay dividends and grow the Balance Sheet naturally, the company must generate Net Profits.
| Ticker | Name | Net Profit | StockRank™ |
|---|---|---|---|
| LON:HSBA | HSBC Holdings | 23533.00 | 84 |
| LON:SHEL | Shell | 19359.00 | 98 |
| LON:BP. | BP | 15239.00 | 91 |
| LON:VOD | Vodafone | 10506.00 | 63 |
| LON:RIO | Rio Tinto | 10058.00 | 90 |