Lloyds TSB's H1 profits up by 7%
Friday, 29 July 2005Lloyds TSB Group's first-half profit rose by 7%, boosted by growth in corporate and business banking, but retail banking customers are struggling to repay loans, the British bank said today.
Pre-tax profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to £1.676 billion sterling from £1.568 billion a year earlier, Britain's fifth-biggest bank said in a statement. Analysts had forecast profit of about £1.71 billion in a range of £1.63-1.83 billion, although estimates are a rough guide because of a change to new IFRS accounting rules.
The bank said the retail banking loan impairment charge rose 21% in the first half, partly because customers were having difficulty repaying. Overall credit quality was satisfactory, the bank added.
Retail banking profit rose 3.75% to £830m, while profit from wholesale and international banking rose 14% to£662m. The bank said it remained strongly capitalised and the first-half dividend was unchanged at 10.7 pence a share.
