UK-listed Lloyds Banking Group, which is currently part-owned by the UK government, today reported a third-quarter underlying profit of £2.155 billion, up 41 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

UK-listed Lloyds Banking Group, which is currently part-owned by the UK government, today reported a third-quarter underlying profit of £2.155 billion ($3.477 billion), up 41 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

For the first nine months of 2014, underlying profit rose 35 per cent year-on-year to £5.974 billion. Pre-tax profit on a statutory basis was £1.614 billion, a 5 per cent drop on the same period in 2013.

Earnings per share in the nine-month period were 1.7 pence, up from 0.4 pence per share a year earlier. The cost/income ratio for the group was 49.7 per cent, down from 52.5 per cent, the bank said today in a statement.

Excluding St James's Place, which benefited Lloyds’ 2013 results, underlying income was up 3 per cent and underlying profit up 52 per cent, it said. (The St James’s Place business has been spun off.)

Lloyds said its fully loaded common equity tier 1 ratio now stands at 12.0 per cent, up from 10.3 per cent (pro forma) at the end of 2013, and its fully loaded Basel III leverage ratio has increased to 4.7 per cent.

The bank said that as the “business is performing strongly and the balance sheet has continued to strengthen”, it is in talks with the regulatory authorities about the case for resuming the payment of dividends.