British mortgage lender Alliance & Leicester has reported an 11 per cent fall in profits for last year due to higher investment to develop its business.
Pre-tax profits at the lender, tipped as a prime takeover target among banks, were £396 million sterling in 2001 - down from £447 million in the previous year.
Analysts had forecast pre-tax profits of £388 million to £395 million pounds.
Alliance & Leicester, which converted from a mutual building society, will lose its five-year protection from takeovers in April.
The bank had entered into merger talks with Bank of Ireland two years ago, but the plans were scrapped after news of the talks was leaked before to the media.
The bank said today it saw no deterioration in asset quality in any of its business sectors.
