LLOYDS, THE parent company of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), returned to profit in the first half of this year but said impaired loans in Ireland continued to rise.
Lloyds said yesterday it made a pretax profit of £1.603 billion for the six months ending in June, compared with a loss of £3.96 billion a year earlier.
However, impaired loans in Ireland amounted to 44 per cent of its £26.7 billion (€32.2 billion) in loans and advances.
Loan-loss provisions in the Irish business, which trades under the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) brand, came to £1.56 billion (€1.9 billion) for the first half of the year, up from £1.03 billion (€1.24 billion) in the period last year, Lloyds said in a statement.
Still, that represented a fall from £1.92 billion (€2.32 billion) for the second half of 2009.
The group said Irish economic conditions remained challenging with evidence of further falls in property prices and rising unemployment.
"We expect to deliver strong medium-term performance as the UK economy sees a gradual recovery," Lloyds said. – (Reuters, Bloomberg)
