Nigeria's Fidelity Bank H1 pretax profit drops 15.7 pct

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's fidelity Bank said on Wednesday its half year to June pre-tax profit dropped 15.7 percent to 9.43 billion naira ($58.26 million) compared with 11.19 billion naira in the same period last year. Gross earnings in the second tier lender however rose to 63.25 billion naira, from 62.90 billion naira a year earlier, the bank said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange. ($1 = 161.85 Naira)