Lloyds Banking Group has announced upbeat results for the first half of this year – and they include inarguable good news amid recent downbeat economic pointers from the Treasury.

A lower-than-expected impact from bad loans led the bank to set aside £44m for credit losses in the first half of this year, in stark contrast to what the money markets had anticipated as being necessary - they had staked the expected sum dramatically higher, at £305m.

WIth first-half 'impairments' (that's fiscal jargon for a permanent reduction in the value of a company asset) coming in at just £101m, the same column result had stood at £662m in the previous year. 

In all, Lloyds experienced a 14% fall in profit for the period, putting interim pretax profits at £3.3bn – but crucially, analysts had anticipated that figure to fix at £3.2bn, and while the rise may be hardly a reason to break out the Bollinger at HQ, Lloyds' figures tentatively point to better times ahead.

Charlie Nunn, Group CEO, said: "In the first six months of 2024, the Group delivered robust financial results with solid income performance and cost discipline alongside strong capital generation. 2024 is a key year for our strategic delivery. We continue to deliver on our strategic transformation, as illustrated in the fourth of our investor seminars last month. We remain on track to meet our 2024 targeted outcomes. Indeed, our progress to date enables us to reaffirm 2024 guidance and remain confident in achieving our 2026 strategic objectives and guidance."

Guided by its purpose, he added that the results underpinned "our ambition of higher, more sustainable returns that will deliver for all of our stakeholders as we continue to Help Britain Prosper."

Mr Nunn added that retail and small business customers were "showing resilience".

Key further highlights of the results included:

● Statutory profit after tax of £2.4bn (half-year to 30 June 2023: £2.9 billion) with net income down 9% on the prior year and operating costs up 7% (including Bank of England Levy), partly offset by the lower impairment charge.

● Return on tangible equity of 13.5% (half-year to 30 June 2023: 16.6%).

● Underlying net interest income of £6.3bn down 10% billion, down 10 per cent with a lower banking net interest margin of 2.94% and average interest-earning banking assets of £449.2bn.

● Underlying other income of £2.7 billion, 8% higher, driven by continued recovery in customer and market activity and the benefit of strategic initiatives.

● Operating lease depreciation of £679 million, up on the prior year reflecting growth in the fleet size, depreciation of higher value vehicles and declines in used electric car prices.

Mr Nunn added: "As we look ahead to the UK's priorities and opportunities, including the new government emphasis on sustained economic growth, our strong financials and business model position the Group well to continue to support our customers, and to help Britain prosper."