Lloyds Banking Group has reported underlying profit of £2.18bn for the first quarter of the year, an increase of 21% on the first quarter of 2014.

However, it has revealed a loss relating to the sale of TSB of £660m.

During the first three months of the year, Lloyds lent £2.2 billion to first-time buyers in the first quarter, providing one in four mortgages.

It also posted net lending of £1.1 billion to SMEs over the last 12 months, up 4%.

António Horta-Osório, group chief executive, said: “I am confident that the successful delivery of our strategy through our simple, low risk, customer focused, UK retail and commercial banking business model will enable us to become the best bank for customers and deliver strong and sustainable returns for shareholders. It also remains our intention to pay an interim and a final dividend for 2015.”