The state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group has announced that net profits sank by a fifth in the first quarter, after taking a charge against the disposal of its TSB retail division.<\/p>\n
Earnings after taxation slid to \u00a3913 million ($1.40 billion, 1.25 billion euros) in the three months to the end of March, compared with \u00a31.148 billion a year earlier, Lloyds said in a results statement.<\/p>\n
However, pretax profit before exceptional items rose 21 percent to \u00a32.2 billion in the reporting period boosted also by falling bad debts, with boss Ant\u00f3nio Horta-Os\u00f3rio saying there had been \u201ccontinued improvement in financial strength\u201d.<\/p>\n
The bank also said there had been no further provision during the quarter to cover the mis-selling of PPI products.<\/p>\n
In early trade in London shares in Lloyds were up by 3.4% at 80p.<\/p>\n
Lloyds – almost 21-percent state-owned after a bailout in the global financial crisis – took a \u00a3660-million charge linked to the sale of TSB to Spain’s Banco de Sabadell. That partly reflected the cost of switching TSB to an alternative IT platform.<\/p>\n
The mixed results were published one week after the government sold another tranche of Lloyds, as it seeks to further cut the deficit before the general election.<\/p>\n
In a statement accompanying its results, Lloyds said: \u201cWe agreed the sale of our remaining stake in TSB to Banco de Sabadell in the first quarter and as part of this agreement, we sold 9.99 per cent of our stake in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe full disposal of TSB will enable us to meet our commitment to the European Commission ahead of the mandated deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n
In its earnings report, the bank said losses from bad debts fell 59 per cent on the same period a year ago to \u00a3177m.<\/p>\n
Lloyds also said it planned to pay a dividend for the half-year and full year for 2015, as previously indicated.<\/p>\n
Over the past two years, the government has been selling off tranches of shares in the taxpayer-backed bank.<\/p>\n
And in April, David Cameron said that up to \u00a34bn worth of Lloyds Bank shares would be offered to small investors at below-market prices if the Conservatives win the election.<\/p>\n
The offer would be part of the \u00a39bn sale of shares in the bailed-out bank announced in the Budget in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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