British mortgage lender HBOS today reported a 22 per cent rise in annual profit.
Britain's fifth-biggest bank said 2002 pre-tax profits before exceptional items rose to £3.062 billion sterling.
But the figure was below market forecasts of £3.149 billion to £3.425 billion, with a consensus at £3.282 billion.
Dealers forecast that HBOS shares would open around 20 pence down from yesterday's 589.5 pence close. HBOS said the economic outlook remained uncertain, but the group was well placed.
The full year dividend rose five per cent to 29.4 pence.
HBOS was formed in 2001 by the merger between Halifax, the country's biggest mortgage lender, and Bank of Scotland.
The merger has gone well and has led to significant cost-savings and higher revenues, and HBOS said today that its cost-to-income ratio - a measure of how efficiently it runs the business - had fallen to 45 per cent from 49 per cent.