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LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Analysts expect Lloyds BankingGroup to report a rise in first-quarter pretax profiton Thursday, continuing its recovery following a rescue by theUK government during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
Sanford Bernstein analyst Chirantan Barua expects the bank,which is 25 percent-owned by the government, to post a pretaxprofit of 1.96 billion pounds ($3.31 billion) in the firstquarter, up from 1.05 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio has turned the bank'sfinancial performance around, simplifying the business andslimming it down to focus on domestic lending and meet tougherregulatory requirements on capital. In 2013, it reported itsfirst pretax profit for three years as lending to Britishhouseholds and businesses increased.
The government pumped 20 billion pounds into Lloyds duringthe financial crisis leaving it with a 41 percent shareholding.It has so far sold shares worth 7.4 billion pounds, reducing itsstake to 25 percent, and wants to sell off the remainder beforethe next election in 2015.
Lloyds said in February it expected to apply to Britain'sfinancial regulator in the second half of the year to restartdividends, potentially increasing the bank's appeal ahead of apossible government share sale to private retail investors.
The bank may on Thursday update investors on the plannedstock market flotation of its TSB business, which is expected inthe next two months.
It is not expected to set aside more funds to compensatecustomers mis-sold loan insurance. ($1 = 0.5922 British Pounds) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; editing by Keiron Henderson)
