LOST in the mighty hungry TSB group's results was the fact that its

subsidiary TSB Bank Scotland had achieved pre-tax profits of #79.4m, up

3.3% on the previous year and apparently strong all over.

The Scottish arm, which is chaired by Forbes MacPherson, gave a very

brief account of its own performance yesterday. Perhaps it does not like

putting the parent in the shade.

Chief executive Alastair Dempster said they were pleased to report an

increase in profit, which had been achieved in a very difficult economic

climate. His statement included no reference to the all-important

lending and bad-debt provisions.

Mr Dempster indicated that he was ''cautiously optimistic'' about

prospects for the current year, promising to continue focusing on

controlling costs.

TSB Scotland's return on capital was down from 29.1% to 27.5% but the

cost income ratio improved from 52.6% to 54.5%, with net customer

advances up from #1654m to #1755.5m.