Lloyds profits surge

Lloyds Banking Group on Wednesday said that its net profit soared 52 percent last year, when the UK lender returned fully to the private sector following a state bailout.

LBG, which was financially rescued by the UK government following the height of the financial crisis a decade ago, said profit after tax jumped to £3.04 billion ($4.26 billion, 3.45 billion euros) in 2017 from £2.0 billion a year earlier.

"2017 has been a landmark year in which the group has made significant strategic progress and returned to full private ownership," LBG chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said in the earnings release.

Underlining the bank's growing recovery in a "resilient" British economy despite Brexit, LBG added that it planned to return up to £1.0 billion to investors in a share buyback.

It also said it would press ahead with its digitalisation strategy.