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LONDON : British mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley said on Friday that it had endured a net loss of 17.2 million pounds (21.3 million euros, 31.4 million dollars) in the first half of 2008.
The bank had posted profit after tax totalling 129 million pounds during the first six months of 2007.
"In the light of the turbulence in the banking and housing sectors, the first six months of this year have been very challenging for B&B," chairman Rod Kent said in a group earnings statement.
He described the results as "disappointing."
Bradford & Bingley added that "in the light of continuing weakness in the housing market and the wider economy" it continued "to expect arrears and repossessions to increase for the remainder of the year."
The bank had revealed earlier this month that its shareholders had agreed to buy just under 28 per cent of a rights issue aimed at raising 400 million pounds.
"As the country's biggest lender to landlords operating in an environment where rent increases cannot keep pace with rising mortgage repayments perhaps it's no great surprise that the rights issue received the turgid response it did from investors," CMC Markets analyst James Hughes said of B&B on Friday.
Bradford had already warned in June that higher funding costs and rising levels of unpaid debt had slashed its profits.
Earlier in August the bank appointed Richard Pym, the former head of peer Alliance & Leicester, as its new chief executive.
Former B&B boss Steven Crawshaw had resigned in June for health reasons. - AFP/ms
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