Northern Rock sees "significant improvement" in H2
* Northern Rock saw improved trading performance in Q3
* Improved performance seen in H2 vs H1
* Sees encouraging trends on loan loss impairment
* Conditions in mortgage, property markets still "subdued"
LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - British state-owned lender Northern Rock saw an improved trading performance in the third quarter, with encouraging trends on bad loans, and said it expects a "significant improvement" in the second half.
But it also warned on Wednesday that conditions in the mortgage and housing markets remained subdued.
"While recent trends have been encouraging, loan loss impairment is expected to remain a driver of the company remaining loss making for the full year, as previously announced," Northern Rock said in a statement.
The lender said its financial performance during the third quarter improved on an underlying and statutory basis, reflecting higher net interest income and lower loan loss impairment. Gross mortgage lending during the quarter accelerated to 1 billion pounds ($1.65 billion), taking loans over the nine months to the end of September to 2.3 billion. Continued...
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