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Date: Tuesday 13 May 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Alliance & Leicester's shares slumped by more than 10% as it revealed more impairment charges and a sharp slowdown in new lending in the first four months of 2008, again raising questions over whether it can maintain its dividend.

A&L took a total charge of £391m for impairment of derivatives and securitised investment vehicles. Some £189m of that was taken through the profit and loss account and the rest through reserves.

Mortgage balances at 30 April 2008 were £41.2bn, £1.5bn lower than at 31 December 2007. Gross lending of £1.7bn was £2bn lower than in the first four months of 2007.

A&L added that mortgage arrears were stable and core operating profit excluding Treasury in the first four months of 2008 was similar to the same period in 2007.

Chief executive David Bennett said, "Alliance & Leicester has made good progress during the first four months of 2008. Core operating profit excluding Treasury was similar to the same period in 2007, although volatility in the financial markets has led to a further reduction in the value of certain treasury assets."

In a conference call finance director Chris Rhodes said that treasury market values and impairment charges were worse than expected in the first months of 2008.

He added that the dividend situation remains the same as in February with the company walking a tightrope between overall profitability and maintaining its current dividend payout.

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