Lloyds Banking Group has today announced profits of £2.5billion.

The company, which made thousands of employees redundant nationally over the past year, published its half-year results, including pre-tax profits four per cent higher than last year.

This was despite an additional £1billion of conduct charges in the second quarter, mainly in respect of PPI claims covering the cost of insurance mis-selling.

These results are the first since the government sold its stake in Lloyds, which has a major centre in Barnwood, employing 900 staff, in May.

The £1billion also includes £283million which will be used to repay almost 600,000 mortage holders, after they were charged for going into arrears between 2009 and 2016.

Group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said the strong results followed the successful transformation of the Lloyds Group to become "a simple, low risk, UK-focused retail and commercial bank".

"We have delivered another strong set of results with increased underlying and statutory profit and strong capital generation, whilst completing the acquisition of MBNA and returning to full private ownership.

"The UK economy remains resilient following strong employment and GDP growth in recent years together with private sector deleveraging and rising house prices.

"Inflation is however now rising above disposable income given the recent depreciation in sterling and, while this may affect consumption going forward, the economy should benefit from rising exports and earnings from foreign assets.

"We have announced that our next strategy update for the period 2018-2020 will accompany the Group's full year results in February 2018, and in preparation for this we have made a number of organisational and senior management changes.

"The changes are aimed at aligning and strengthening the Group's structure to ensure we meet evolving customer needs and deliver the continuous transformation required of the organisation in the most effective way.

"Our differentiated UK focused business model continues to deliver, with our cost leadership and lower risk positioning providing competitive advantage.

"Our strong financial performance and strategic progress continue to position us well for delivering our purpose of Helping Britain Prosper."

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