London - Britain's Group Wednesday reported a half-year loss of 4 billion pounds (6.8 billion dollars) up to the end of June, due mainly to write-downs connected with the emergency takeover of ailing Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) last year.

Lloyds, in which the British government has a stake of 43 per cent, said impairments on bad debt rose to 13.4 billion pounds, of which 80 per cent related to HBOS assets.

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

Lloyds took over HBOS in a government-backed rescue move at the height of the banking crisis last October, when HBOS had been driven close to collapse due to risky lending practices.