Kaupthing, the Icelandic bank that owns UK brokerage Singer & Friedlander, saw pre-tax profits nearly double to Ikr31.7bn (€388m) in the second quarter after its capital markets business returned to profit.

The capital markets division, which includes sales and trading and made a loss of Ikr6.3bn in the second quarter last year on the back of losses in its equities trading business, made a record pre-tax profit of Ikr10.2bn this year.