British bank Lloyds TSB today raised its writedown on its exposure to risky assets to £280 million sterling (€371 million) but reported a 6 per cent rise in underlying 2007 profit and raised its dividend.
Britain's fifth-biggest bank said its annual profit before tax and volatility rose to £3.92 billion, up from £3.71 billion in 2006.
Lloyds raised its final dividend by 5 per cent to take its full-year payout to 35.9 pence, also up 5 per cent on the year, and said it expects to increase the dividend over time.
Its core UK retail bank profits jumped 17 per cent to £1.81 billion, as it opened over one million new current accounts and held operating cost growth well behind income growth.
The wholesale and international banking unit's profit fell 12 per cent to 1.44 billion pounds after the writedown.
Lloyds had previously flagged a £201 million writedown from the impact of a drop in the value of assets following the US subprime housing crisis but raised that by almost 80 million.
The higher charge is mainly due to a cut in the value of the trading portfolio in its corporate markets unit, with the turmoil hitting profits by £144 million, more than the £90 million estimated in December.