Lloyds Swings to Fourth-Quarter Profit as It Boosts Dividend

Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, swung to a fourth-quarter profit even as it faced more than 700 million pounds of conduct and restructuring charges. Pretax profit was 973 million pounds, compared to a loss of 507 million pounds a year earlier, the London-based bank said in a statement Wednesday, falling short of analysts’ estimates for 1.38 billion pounds.