A BUILDING society is well positioned for the future despite reporting a small loss for the first six months of the year, its chief executive said.
Jim Willens of Newcastle Building Society said he was "comfortable" with the loss of £900,000 to June 30, compared to a profit of £700,000 for the same period of the previous year.
The loss grew to £4.9m, due to a one off cost of £4m attached to a cost saving programme which saw the society announce 126 redundancies and the closure of four branches in May.
However the programme is expected to deliver annual cost savings of £8m and Mr Willens said underlying performance in the second quarter was already seeing the benefits.
The society has also recovered more of the money it had invested in Icelandic banks which saw it record a loss of £25.8m in 2008, after it had to write down £43m.
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