POB.L Regulatory News (POB)

2 Oct 2006 09:28

Portman Building Society02 October 2006 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release 2 October 2006 THE MERGER BETWEEN PORTMAN AND LAMBETH COMPLETES Portman and Lambeth building societies are pleased to announce that the mergerhas now completed. The combined Society will operate as Portman Building Societyand members of Lambeth Building Society will become members of Portman and willhave the same voting rights as Portman members. Commenting on the announcement, Robert Sharpe, Chief Executive of PortmanBuilding Society said: "I am delighted that the merger has now completed.Lambeth members are joining us at an exciting time, following our recentproposed merger announcement with Nationwide Building Society. If the proposedmerger is approved, both Portman and Lambeth members will benefit fromefficiencies of scale, access to a substantially enlarged branch network and amerger bonus for those members who qualify." Chris Radford, Chief Executive of Lambeth Building Society added: "Thecompletion of the merger is good news for members. They will continue to benefitover the long term from competitive products supported by excellent service anda wider branch network." -ENDS- Editors' notes: Information about the Portman and Lambeth merger is available at lambeth.co.uk.Member Helpline: 0845 600 0913 Information about the Portman and Nationwide merger is available atportman.co.uk. Member Helpline: 0845 840 6000 About Portman Building Society Portman is the third largest UK building society and the 13th largest UKmortgage lender. In the period 2000 to 2005, Portman was the fastest growing topten building society in terms of total assets. The Portman Group employs over 2,500 people, serves 1.8 million members and, asat 30 June 2006, had total assets of £18.7 billion and general reserves of £704million. Pre-tax profit for the six months ended 30 June 2006 was £44.5 million(£85 million for the full year ended 31 December 2005). Following the merger with Lambeth Building Society, Portman has a network of 149branches. Its Head Office is in Bournemouth and it has an administration centrein Wolverhampton. On 12 September 2006, the Boards of Nationwide and Portman Building Societiesannounced that they had agreed to merge. The merger is expected to becomeeffective by the end of September 2007, subject to approval being given byPortman members, confirmation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), andapproval by the Office of Fair Trading. For further information please contact: Lynsey Hallam Group Press Officer 01202 562256 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange