Lloyds Banking joined sector peers Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland in reporting better than expected full-year figures.

The part-nationalised lender reported a pre-tax loss of £6.3bn in the year ended 31 December compared with £6.71bn last time. Total income rose to £23.96bn from £21.36bn last time. Analysts were expecting a loss of £7.4bn on revenue of £22.6bn.

'We have established positive trends in margin, cost and impairments and are well positioned. We are building strong earnings momentum and expect our performance to improve significantly in 2010 and beyond," said chief executive Eric Daniels.

Serco, the outsourcing group chosen to design, build and operate the London cycle hire scheme, surged to a new high Friday after delivering a bullish update alongside a 30% leap in 2009 profit.

Pre-tax profit was a better than expected profits £177.1m, up from £136.1m in 2008, on revenue 27.1% higher, or 20.8% excluding currency, to £3.97bn.

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