LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s Co-op Bank has posted a third consecutive quarter of profit Friday. This is a further sign that the ethical lender and self-described bank made progress after nearly a decade in losses. It was also helped by Britain’s economic recovery.

For the nine months ending September, the pretax profit of the lender was 28.5million pounds ($38.46M), compared with a loss of 68.1million pound in the same period last fiscal year.

After its 2017 near-collapse, and subsequent rescue by several U.S.-based hedge funds, Co-op Bank is now reaping the rewards of difficult restructuring.

After making an unwelcome offer to rival lender TSB, Sabadell rejected the proposal and made no reference whatsoever to acquisition plans.

In recent weeks there has been a lot of interest in takingover British banks. Shares in Metro Bank, a rival bank, closed at 29% after the announcement by U.S.-based private equity firm Carlyle.

($1 = 0.7411 pounds)