LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - State-backed Lloyds Banking Group said it expects to meet its targets on cost savings,capital strength and margins earlier than expected, laying thegroundwork for Britain to start selling its stake in the bank.
Lloyds said it will start talks with regulators in thecoming months about restarting its dividend, seen as a key partof Britain starting to offload its 39 percent holding in thebank.
Lloyds reported a profit of 2.1 billion pounds for the sixmonths to the end of June, despite taking another 500 millionpounds charge for the mis-selling of insurance protectionproducts.
Britain is expected to start selling shares in the bankshortly with a share sale of about 5 billion pounds.