Bank announces restart of dividend payments as it returns to profitability
Lloyds Banking Group has swung back to profit and reinstated dividend payments, after receding Covid risks helped improve the UK’s economic outlook.
Britain’s biggest retail bank said pre-tax profits across the group soared to £2bn in the three months to the end of June, in a sharp turnaround from the £676m loss it reported during the same period in 2020 when it put aside billions of pounds to cover potential defaults linked to the pandemic. Analysts had been expecting Lloyds, which owns the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands, to report profits of £1.2bn for the quarter.
