London  - Britain's part-nationalized Bank of Scotland (RBS) Friday reported a pre-tax profit of 15 million pounds (25.26 million dollars) in the first half of 2009.

The profit at the bank, in which the taxpayer has a stake of 70 per cent, came despite bad debts and writedowns soaring to 7.5 billion pounds.

RBS was at the centre of last year's banking crisis and was given 20 billion pounds from the government bail-out scheme. Its previous top management has left.

The new chief executive, Stephen Hester, said RBS had had a "momentous" six months.

"There will be no miracle cures. Our task is no less than one of the largest bank restructurings ever done, in the face of strong economic headwinds," he said. (dpa)