LONDON (Reuters) – Nationwide Building Society <POB_p.L>, one of Britain’s three biggest mortgage providers, said its profit for the first six months of the financial year fell 17 percent, as it booked a charge for asset write-offs and technology investments.
Nationwide said its statutory profit was 516 million pounds ($660 million), down from 628 million in the same period a year ago but in line with expectations.
Unlike rival listed banks such as Lloyds and Barclays which have a goal of delivering ever higher profits to their shareholders, Nationwide operates as a society owned by its customers and has said it will be comfortable keeping annual profits at between 0.9 to 1.3 billion pounds per year.
(Reporting By Lawrence White, editing by Silvia Aloisi)
