Filed at 2:31 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- Lloyds Banking Group PLC, which is 43 percent owned by the British government, reported a half-year loss of 7.1 billion pounds ($12 billion) on Wednesday as bad loans rose to a record high.

However, it expressed confidence that the worst part of the bad debt burden was over.

In the first report as a merged company, the partly nationalized company reported that impairments rose from 2.5 billion pounds to 13.4 billion pounds -- 80 percent stemmed from Halifax/Bank of Scotland which was controversially taken over by Lloyds TSB.

And though the merged company's revenue was 7 per cent higher at 11 easy online payday loans.9 billion pounds, Lloyds posted a pro-forma loss -- a figure which analysts keyed on -- of 3.957 billion pounds.

"'Our first half loss was driven by the high levels of impairment. The core business delivered a resilient performance, despite the weak economy," said chief executive Eric Daniels.

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On the Net: http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

Lloyds Banking Group Reports $12 Billion Loss