22.11.201706:44:00UTC+00UK Services Companies' Profitability Lowest Since 2013

The rate of return among British services companies declined to the lowest level in more than three years in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics reported Wednesday.

As services companies expanded their use of capital and experienced a fall in the level of profits, the rate of return in services companies fell to 16.5 percent in the second quarter from 18.6 percent in the first quarter.

This was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2013, when the rate was 15 percent.

At the same time, manufacturing companies' net rate of return remained unchanged at 15.3 percent.