Lloyds Banking Group (LYG) shares rose to the highest level of the year Thursday after the former state-rescued lender reported a better-than-expected doubling in first quarter pre-tax profit.
Lloyds saw profit increase 99% from the from £654 million posted a year earlier to £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) against a broader expectation of around £1.21 billion. The bank posted an underlying profit of £2.1 billion, up 1% from last year. Its cost-income ratio improved to 47.1 per cent from 47.4 per cent a year ago. The lenders net interest margin increased to 2.8% from 2.74% in the first three months of 2016.
