Nationwide profits boosted by lower bad debts

Published 23rd Nov 2010

Nationwide NAT.UL, the country's second-biggest mortgage lender, reported a 26 percent jump in its first-half profit as its bad debts almost halved.

Mutually-owned Nationwide had an underlying pretax profit for the six months to September 30 of 147 million pounds, up from 117 million pounds in the same period last year, it said on Tuesday.

The improvement reflected a 44 percent drop in bad loans to 179 million pounds as Nationwide tightened its lending criteria.

Nationwide added that the housing market was set to remain weak due to government spending cuts, but said major house price falls were unlikely thanks to continued low interest rates.

Source: ' Reuters '

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