Lloyds Banking Group reported profit after tax of £4.4 billion, up 24 per cent, as it delivered a bumper pay-out for shareholders.
The finance giant also shrugged off concerns about the impact of Britain's departure from the European Union on the bank.
Shares rose 2.7% on the news to 59.97p.
Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said: "Over 2018 the UK economy has proven itself to be resilient, with record employment and continued GDP growth.
"Although the near-term outlook for the UK economy remains uncertain, our strategy continues to deliver for our customers."
Underlying profit was at £4.3 billion, up 13%.
Lloyds hiked the dividend by 5% to 3.21p per share and a proposed share buyback of up to £1.75bn, which represents a total return of up to £4bn to investors.
Lloyds, owner of Bank of Scotland, posted pre-tax profits of £5.96bn for 2018 compared with £5.28bn the previous year due to lower charges for payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation.
READ MORE: Bank of Scotland owner cheers investors with bumper capital return
The firm set aside £750 million on top of £1.65bn in 2017, and the company booked an additional £200m charge in the fourth quarter of 2018.
To date, PPI has cost Lloyds £19.4bn.
It said: "The charge in 2018 related to a number of factors including higher expected complaint volumes, which increased to 13,000 per week, and associated administration costs, an increase in average redress per complaint, additional operational costs to deal with potential complaint volatility and continued improvements in data interrogation and the group’s ability to identify valid complaints."
It is braced for a further average of 13,000 complaints a week up to the August deadline.
The food delivery service is to partner with more than 900 restaurants in the Middle East country and plans to create work for as many as 500 people in the first year.
It follows Deliveroo's launch in Taiwan last October, as the group strengthens its presence outside Europe.
In addition to its presence in the UK and mainland Europe, the British start-up also operates in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
Deliveroo founder and boss Will Shu said: "Kuwait is a really exciting market with a vibrant local food scene.
"We'll bring our expertise and our innovation to Kuwait to ensure that people have access to the best price, selection and service with Deliveroo."
READ MORE: Scots four-star hotel in £1.6m refurbishment led by Glasgow firm
It comes as the firm attracts growing speculation that it is moving closer to a stock market flotation.
In November last year it was reported that the company was raising new funds with a targeted valuation of as much as $4 billion (£3.1bn).
This would provide the company with additional runway in the lead-up to a possible IPO in 2020.
Troubled regional airline Flybe has snubbed a rival rescue proposal from investors including US airline Mesa Air Group and backed by former Stobart boss Andrew Tinkler.
Shares in Flybe more than doubled to 2.9p as it confirmed the "highly conditional" approach from a consortium including Mesa Airlines of Arizona and South African hedge fund Bateleur Capital.
Flybe said it "does not believe that the indicative proposal is executable in the timeframe required to enable Flybe to continue to trade".
It added it continues to back the existing takeover by the Connect Airways consortium - which consists of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and investment firm Cyrus Capital - as the "only viable option available to the company which provides the security that the business needs to continue to trade successfully".
READ MORE: Bank giant sets millions aside for Brexit bad debts
The Mesa consortium is reportedly proposing to make a capital injection of £65 million at 4.5p a share.
Flybe confirmed that Mr Tinkler - its second largest investor - had given the proposal his indicative support, alongside "other unnamed institutional shareholders".
However, Flybe has already drawn down £15m in working capital from Connect.
Under the terms of the Connect deal, the buyers will pay £2.8m to take control of the main trading company Flybe and the online arm Flybe.com.
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