Fresh blow for B&B as sales director quits

Published on Monday 1 September 2008 22:08

BRADFORD & Bingley said yesterday that its sales director, Mark Stevens, had resigned – days after the UK's biggest buy-to-let lender warned that conditions would continue to worsen.

Chief executive Richard Pym said: "I had wanted Mark to stay but he has made a personal decision to leave us."

Last Friday, Bradford & Bingley announced it had sunk to a first-half loss, hit by 155 million in writedowns and investment losses, while bad debts had risen more than half since the end of 2007.

Its shares, which have lost 80 per cent of their value since January, closed 4.6 per cent lower at 46.75p yesterday.

The news comes as ratings agency Fitch Ratings downgraded B&B's long-term issuer default rating to BBB+ from A-, following the bank's gloomy interim results.

It also downgraded B&B's individual rating to C from B/C, its "subordinated debt" to BBB from BBB+ and the preferred stock was downgraded to BBB– from BBB+.

"The weaker revenues driven by narrowing interest spreads and a shrinking loan book coincided with worsening bad debts," Fitch said in a statement.

But it added that it was not all bad news for the lender, saying that Pym's arrival was a positive thing for the troubled institution.

It added: "Fitch views positively the completion of the rights issue boosting the bank's capital position and the arrival of a new experienced chief executive."