LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Lloyds Bank on Wednesday reported another surge in earnings, although slightly below expectations, and set aside more cash for bad loans amid pressure to provide hard pressed savers better returns.




Half-year profits at the UK's biggest mortgage lender rose 23% to £3.8bn on the back of higher interest rates, missing estimates of £4bn. The bank said underlying net interest income rose14% to £7bn, although customer deposits of £469.8bn were £5.5bn lower.

However, it also set aside £662m for potentially bad loans, a rise of 76%, which helped send shares in the bank lower.

Lloyds hiked its interim dividend to 0.92p a share, up 15% from a year ago and the equivalent of £594m to shareholders. It also lifted return on equity guidance to more than 14% for the full year from 13%.

Net interest margin, the difference between savings and loan rates, fell slightly to 3.14% in the April-June quarter, from 3.22% in the first three months of the year. Lloyds said it expected this to fall to 3.10% this year instead of 3.05%.



Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com

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