Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008
Bradford & Bingley in the doo-doo (part 2)
Citywire: Virgin bid speculation steadies Bradford & Bingley
The market is rife with rumours that Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is preparing a bid for Bradford & Bingley (B&B). The rumours enabled the bank to trade flat in a market where most bank shares were falling fast in the wake of Royal Bank of Scotland's rights issue.
The rumours come as the bank announces that margins are under pressure as a result of the credit crisis, as well as revealing further losses in its structured finance portfolio. It did however demonstrate that it has grown its deposit base throughout the problems.
Posted by jack c @ 10:51 AM (380 views) Add Comment
3 Comments
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1. techieman said...
Yep - he might bid Ex Mortgage Express, when hes done the DD. "However, he admitted margins on loans written in the second half of 2007 were affected by the credit crisis and had subsequently impacted the overall group margin in the first quarter of 2008"
2. Ijjhall said...
Does anything Branson bid on - National lottery, Northern Rock - actually come off ? bucketloads of mediaexposure for him though I suppose.
3. jack c said...
Branson bid rumours are currently holding B&B shares steady at 165p (marginally above 52 week low of 164.75p) - now if the bid rumour had not have emerged would the shares be down significantly today alongside Barclays and HBOS?
The latest from BBC business section - Mortgage arrears are growing at one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders, the Bradford and Bingley (B&B). In a statement to investors ahead of its shareholders' AGM, the bank said some borrowers were finding it harder to repay their loans. More than half of the bank's home loans have been made to buy-to-let landlords.
I never thought Branson was a serious contender over Northern Rock and I'm also of the same opinion regarding B&B !