Statutory profit before tax for the first six months of the year was £3.5 billion.

Lloyds Banking Group reported its profit for the first half of the year rose 5 per cent, beating analysts’ forecasts, as income grew even as it faces a murkier economic outlook and rising corporate defaults.

The British lender said statutory profit before tax for the first six months of the year of £3.5 billion, up 5 per cent year on year and just above the average of analysts’ forecasts of £3.2 billion.

The bank also said it would pay an interim ordinary dividend of 1.22 pence per share, equivalent to £731 million, up 15 per cent on the prior year.