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Lloyds Banking Group first quarter profits rise to £1.8bn Lloyds Banking Group making 'good progress'
(35 minutes later)
Lloyds Bank has reported a 22% rise in underlying pre-tax profit to £1.8bn in the three months to the end of March compared with £1.4bn a year ago. Lloyds Bank has said it is making "good progress" as it reported a 22% rise in underlying first quarter pre-tax profit to £1.8bn.
The bank also reported a sharp fall in impairment charges, which fell 57% from a year earlier to £431m.The bank also reported a sharp fall in impairment charges, which fell 57% from a year earlier to £431m.
And costs at the bank fell a further 5% to £2.3bn, it said. Lloyds, which is 25% taxpayer-owned, said it still expected to apply in the second half of the year for permission to restart dividend payments.
Lloyds, which is 25% taxpayer-owned, said it still expected to apply for permission in the second half of the year to restart dividend payments. The bank also said costs continued to fall, dropping a further 5% to £2.3bn.
The bank added preparations for the planned stock market floatation of TSB - which was forced on the bank following the collapse of its planned branch sale to the Co-op Bank last year - would take place in the summer. Lloyds' finance director George Culmer said the bank planned to float 25% of its TSB business before the end of June.
Lloyds must sell the business, which has been valued by City analysts at about £1.5bn, as a condition of its £20.5bn taxpayer bailout during the 2008 financial crisis.
Mr Culmer confirmed that some of the shares would be offered to the public.
'Strong performance''Strong performance'
Lloyds chief executive António Horta-Osório said the bank had made "good progress" in its first quarter.Lloyds chief executive António Horta-Osório said the bank had made "good progress" in its first quarter.
"We are supporting and benefitting from the UK economic recovery and are delivering better underlying profitability as well as improved returns for shareholders, from a stronger, lower risk balance sheet," he said."We are supporting and benefitting from the UK economic recovery and are delivering better underlying profitability as well as improved returns for shareholders, from a stronger, lower risk balance sheet," he said.
"And it was this strong performance which enabled the government to further reduce its stake, returning an additional £4.2bn of taxpayers' money in the first quarter.""And it was this strong performance which enabled the government to further reduce its stake, returning an additional £4.2bn of taxpayers' money in the first quarter."
The government has so far sold two tranches of shares in Lloyds, reducing its stake in the bank from 39% last year to 25% in March.
The first share sale, which saw the government sell a 6% stake to institutional investors, raised £3.2bn. The second sale in March, of a further 8% stake raised £4.2bn.
Lloyds' statutory pre-tax profit for the first quarter fell 33% to £1.37bn from £2.04bn. The bank said last year's figures were boosted by gains made from the sale of government securities amounting to £776m.