South Africa's Nedbank H1 profit up 16 pct as bad debts drop

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Nedbank Group, the South African bank majority owned by insurer Old Mutual Plc (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) , reported a 16 percent jump in first-half profit on Tuesday, buoyed by a drop in bad debts and stronger earnings from lending.

Nedbank, the smallest of South Africa's "big four" lenders, said diluted headline earnings totalled 965 cents a share in the six months to the end of June, from 831 cents a year earlier.

Like its rivals, Nedbank has been on a drive to reduce bad debts and concentrate on higher quality loans, reflecting concern about high levels of personal debt and anaemic growth in Africa's most developed economy.

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) of the bank have risen 13 percent this year, outperforming an 11 percent rise in South Africa's benchmark Top-40 index.

(Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa)