Lloyds Banking FY19 Pretax Profit Down 26%; To Pay Quarterly Dividends

(RTTNews) - Lloyds Banking Group plc (LLOY.L, LYG) on Thursday reported fiscal 2019 pre-tax profit of 4.39 billion pounds, down 26 percent from 5.96 billion pounds in the previous year.

The Group's statutory profit after tax declined 33 percent to 3.01 billion pounds from 4.51 billion pounds last year, after a PPI charge of 2.45 billion pounds and tax expense of 1.4 billion pounds in the year. Earnings per share decreased 36 percent to 3.5 pence from 5.5 pence last year.

For the fiscal period, underlying profit was 7.53 billion pounds, down 7 percent from 8.07 billion pounds last year, reflecting continued revenue pressure and higher impairments partly offset by lower total costs.

Net interest income for the year decreased 3 percent to 12.38 billion pounds from 12.71 billion pounds last year.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2020, the Group expects increased statutory return on tangible equity of 12 to 13 percent in 2020, driven by resilient underlying profit and lower below the line charges.

The company's board has recommended a final ordinary dividend of 2.25 pence per share. This is in addition to the interim ordinary dividend of 1.12 pence per share that was announced in the 2019 half year results.

The recommended total ordinary dividend per share for 2019 is therefore 3.37 pence per share, up 5 per cent from the 3.21 pence per share in 2018.

The Group announced that it will move to the payment of quarterly dividends in 2020, with the first quarterly dividend in respect of the first quarter of 2020 payable in June 2020.