LONDON (AP) — British bank Barclays PLC said yesterday that its net profit rose by 29 percent in the first half to 2.4 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) as investment banking gains tripled and provisions for bad loans fell by a third.

Revenue was up eight percent to £16.6 billion. Pretax profit rose 44 percent to 3.95 billion pounds.

Pretax profit in the investment banking unit Barclays Capital more than trebled to £2.55 billion from £1.05 billion a year ago. The bank said it continued to benefit from the acquisition of Lehman Brothers North American operations in 2008.

Impairment provisions for bad loans fell from £4.56 billion a year ago to £3.08 billion.

Pretax profit for retail banking in Britain rose 61 percent to £504 million but Barclaycard pretax fell 15 percent to £317 million. Pretax profit from western Europe retail banking skidded 89 percent to £10 million.

The company did not pay a dividend a year ago but is paying two pence per share for the first half of this year.