Repeat & Correct: Lloyds Unexpectedly Swings to a 1st Half Pretax Loss After High Impairments

Lloyds net interest income fell 11% to GBP5.48 billion, from GBP6.14 billion. "Lloyds Banking Group 1H Net Income GBP5.48b" flash headline at 0602 GMT, "Lloyds Unexpectedly Swings to a 1H Pretax Loss After High Impairments," at 0623 GMT, "Lloyds Unexpectedly Swings to a 1H Pretax Loss After High Impairments: Update" at 0803 GMT, and "Lloyds Missed 1H Profit View on Higher-than-Expected Impairments -- Earnings Review" at 1228 GMT incorrectly referred to the number as net income, and misstated the fall as 38%. The correct version follows:

By Sabela Ojea

Lloyds Banking Group PLC reported Thursday an unexpected swing to a pretax loss for the first half of 2020 after booking a large impairment charge due to the coronavirus pandemic and said its outlook remains highly uncertain.

The U.K.'s largest retail bank posted a pretax loss of 602 million pounds ($780.3 million) compared with a profit of GBP2.90 billion for the same period a year earlier. The lender was expected to report a pretax profit of GBP42 million for the first six months of the year, according to its own compilation of consensus.

The FTSE-100 lender's net interest income decreased 11% to GBP5.48 billion. Net income--which includes operating lease depreciation and other income--was GBP7.41 billion compared with a forecast of GBP7.4 billion according to its own compilation of forecasts.

The bank took impairments of GBP2.39 billion in the second quarter after booking a GBP1.43 billion charge in the first quarter of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a total of 3.82 billion, up from the expected GBP2.9 billion impairments for the first-half based on Lloyds' compilation of estimates.

The bank ended the period with a common equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of balance-sheet strength--of 14.6%, up from 13.6% at the year-earlier period.

Write to Sabela Ojea at [e-mail]; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2020 09:41 ET (13:41 GMT)

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