HBOS, the new British bank created by the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, lost some of its gloss today when unexciting Bank of Scotland results and bad debt worries knocked over five per cent off its shares.
HBOS, reporting a first set of pro-forma results since completing the merger between Halifax and Bank of Scotland on September 10th, announced a first-half pre-tax profit of £1.5 billion sterling.
The bank's share price had been holding up, despite the plunge in the wider market after the attacks last week in the United States.
But analysts said strong growth in Bank of Scotland's corporate lending had made people jittery this could fuel bad debt charges if the British economy turns down.
The Edinburgh bank's pre-tax profits before exceptional items in the six months to June 30th, 2001, rose to £571 million from £535 million.
This was below some market estimates which put profits at around £590 million.
