Underlying profits up 22 per cent at Lloyds in first quarter

1st May 2014 07:14

Domestic lender Lloyds said that underlying profits rose by over a fifth in the first quarter and it continues to expect to apply to regulators in the second half to restart dividend payments.Group underlying profit for the first three months of 2013 totalled £1.8bn, up 22% compared with last year and up 73% excluding the effects of its stake in St James's Place, which benefitted prior-year figures.The company said this improvement was driven by a 10% rise in net interest income to £2.81bn, as well as a 5% fall in costs to £2.30bn and a 57% drop in impairment charges to £431m.Statutory profit before tax, however, dropped to £1.37bn from £2.04bn the year before, owing mainly to lower asset sales, liability management and volatile items than last year. This resulted in earnings per share of 1.6p, down from 2.2p previously.The bank's capital position was strengthened during the first quarter, with the pro-forma fully loaded common equity tier-1 ratio rising to 10.7% from 10.3% at the start of the period.Lloyds said it was "supporting and benefitting" from the UK economic recovery in the first quarter with continued loan growth in key customer segments. Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises rose 5% in the last 12 months, while gross new mortgage lending was £9.8bn, £2.6bn of which was lent to first-time buyers."We made good progress in the first quarter benefiting from our simple, low risk, UK focused retail and commercial banking business model," said Chief Executive António Horta-Osório."We provided further support to the UK economic recovery while delivering better underlying profitability and improved returns for shareholders from a stronger balance sheet," he said.Lloyds's tangible net asset value per share rose to 50.7p by the end of the period, up from 48.5p on December 31st.Looking forward, the company raised its guidance for 2014 full-year net interest margin and its asset quality ratio.BC