The bank had already earmarked 200 branches for closure by 2017 so the latest announcement means that 400 will be shut by the end of next year.
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It is not yet known if any of the bank’s eight branches in Plymouth will affected.
Lloyds Banking Group plc (LLOY.L, LYG) reported first-half profit before tax of 2.45 billion pounds compared to 1.19 billion pounds, previous year.
The Bank of England is widely expected to cut interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% next week as the fallout from the Brexit vote intensifies.
A potential economic slowdown in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union a month ago is heaping pressure on chief executive officer Antonio Horta-Osorio to deepen cost-cutting to boost earnings. Deutsche Bank AG reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 83 ($1.10) price target on shares of Lloyds Banking Group PLC in a report on Wednesday, March 30th.
“However, while the business will remain highly capital generative, it’s possible that this generation may be somewhat lower in future years than previously guided”, it added.
The British retail bank, which is about 9% owned by the United Kingdom government, said in statement Thursday that “a deceleration of growth seems likely” following the U.K.’s decision to vote to leave the European Union.
“The UK, however, enters this period of uncertainty from a position of strength, following continued private sector deleveraging, significantly improved mortgage affordability and low levels of unemployment”. Income for the first half of the year came in at £8.9bn, just below the 2015 figure.
The bank’s net interest margin (NIM) – a key performance measure that tracks the difference between what Lloyds receives in interest and lends out to customers – had widened to 2.74pc over the period.
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Lloyds said it will pay an interim dividend of 0.85 pence, up 13 percent on past year.
