Lloyds Bank Announce £3.9 Billion Half-Year Profit
Lloyds Banking Group has revealed a £3.9 billion half-year profit, up from a £602 million loss a year ago.
On Thursday, the British bank exceeded analysts’ expectations by reporting a pre-tax profit of £3.9 billion on a net income of £7.6 billion in the first half of 2021. Analysts had expected to see profits of £3.1 billion on revenues of £7.35 billion.
In the first six months of 2020, the bank saw losses of £602 million as the UK endured the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Like other banks and lenders, Lloyds allowed billions as a buffer to cover a feared surge in bad debt linked to the coronavirus pandemic, but has since unlocked £837 million from the buffer as the situation in the UK appears to improve amid a successful vaccine rollout. This led to a net half-year gain of £656 million on provisions.
The bank has raised its forecasts for the UK economy and has increased its guidance for performance in 2022, with Lloyds now expecting to deliver a return of equity of 10%.
Lloyds is the biggest mortgage lender in the UK and has benefited significantly from the property market boom amplified by the stamp duty holiday. The bank reported June as the biggest month for mortgage completions as the end of the stamp duty holiday drove a surge in activity on the property market. So far this year, Lloyd’s has lent £9 billion to first-time buyers. Its mortgage book now stands at an impressive £12.6 billion.
