PROFITS at Midland Bank, the British high street, telephone and commercial banking arm of HSBC Holdings, rose by 24 per cent in the first half of the year. Midland made a pre tax profit of £651 million sterling in the six months to June 30th, compared with £527 million in the first half of 1995. HSBC exceeded forecasts with a 34 per cent increase in pre tax profits to £2.32 billion.