Lloyds Banking Group announces a return to profit in third quarter

The company, which employs around 6,000 staff in Calderdale with major corporate centres at Trinity Road, Halifax, and the Copley Data Centre at Wakefield Road, near Sowerby Bridge. said an encouraging recovery was starting to be seen following serious hits due to the coronavirus crisis.

The finance giant was formed by a merger of Lloyds Bank and the former HBOS following the financial crash in 2008.

Pre-tax profit reached £1.04 billion in the three months up to the end of September, an increase from £50 million during the third quarter in 2019 came on a net income of £3.4 billion.

The bank took a £301 million impairment in the quarter, which was more than £400 million less than had been forecast by analysts.

Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said: “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.

“The pandemic has accelerated many trends around ways of working and digital adoption and our long-run investment in digital propositions has positioned the group well to continue to support our customers.

“As a result, the number of digital users continued to increase, the proportion of products sold digitally is rising and customer satisfaction is at record levels. Our digital proposition and focus on technological change will remain a priority as we accelerate our transformation.”