LONDON: Partly-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group on Thursday reported "good revenue performance" during the first quarter, while maintaining it expected a pre-tax loss in 2009.

"The group has delivered a good revenue performance in the first quarter of 2009 in what remains a difficult period for financial services companies," LBG said in a trading update, though it did publish exact figures.

"As announced in February... we continue to expect the group to report a loss before tax for 2009," it added.

LBG was created in January when Lloyds TSB bought rival lender HBOS, which faced collapse because it was struggling to raise funds amid the global credit crunch.

In March, the government took a majority stake in the banking group, increasing its ownership to 65 percent from 43 percent.