Lloyds sees third quarter results beat expectations as profits hit £1bn

A national banking group has announced that its profits for the third quarter have beaten expectations.

Lloyds Banking Group reported pre-tax profits of £1bn for the July-September period - nearly double the predicted £588m.

The company booked new mortgage lending of £3.5bn after receiving the biggest surge in quarterly applications since 2008 - equal to 22 per cent of the UK market share for approvals.

António Horta-Osório, group chief executive, commented: “The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy and on people and businesses within the UK has been unprecedented.

“We remain focused on working together with the government and our regulators to ensure that we continue to support our customers in this challenging time.

“Although our performance has clearly been impacted by the pandemic and the associated challenging economic environment, I am pleased that we are now seeing an encouraging business recovery and, with impairments significantly lower, a return to profitability in the third quarter.

“In particular, we increased open mortgage book lending by £3.5bn in the quarter, with a 22 per cent share of approvals building a strong pipeline for the fourth quarter, and have supported businesses with an 18 per cent share of government support scheme lending.

“Given the financial performance we were able to further strengthen our capital position to 15.2 per cent and enhance our guidance for impairment and risk-weighted assets.

“Although the outlook remains uncertain, our customer-focused strategy and the strength of the group’s business model will allow us to continue to help Britain recover and play our part in helping to return the UK to prosperity.

“This is fully aligned with the group’s long-term strategic objectives, the position of the franchise and the interests of our shareholders.”