Lloyds beats profit expectations after tightening costs

Lloyds Banking Group beat profit expectations in the third-quarter after slashing its cost base. The FTSE 100 giant reported a £2.3bn pre-tax profit for the latest three months, up nearly 99 per cent on last year s figure. The growth was driven by the absence of any major impairment charges after the bank added another £800m to its motor finance provisions last year. Profit skimmed past the group s internal consensus by two per cent after the bank cut its operating costs. Lloyds recorded £2.37bn in costs, undershooting consensus by £28m. Its cost-to-income ratio came in at 47.2 per cent, against the 48 per cent expected. This was supported by a nine per cent jump in income to £5bn, falling broadly in line with expectations. The bank s return on tangible equity (RoTE) a key metric of profitability was 19.5 per cent for the period, up from 17 per cent in the second quarter. This also sat above the bank s full-year RoTE guidance of around 16 per cent. In its presentati