LRA said it had a favourable view of a management change since 2003, who had managed to improve the company’s asset quality and performance though the company still lagged the industry on both counts.
LB Finance short term debt earned a rating of L3.
A BBB rating given by LRA indicates a company that is judged to offer a moderate degree of safety for timely payments of financial obligations.
Though BBB entities significantly under-perform in some areas, they are considered to have the capability to overcome such problems in the short term.
However they are vulnerable to adverse changes in economic conditions.
BBB3 is just a notch above speculative grade.
LB Finance had 4.8 percent of the industry’s assets and was the third largest deposit taker. It is now controlled by high networth investor Dhammika Perera.
LRA says LB Finance’s gross non-performing-loan ratio -on a 6-month basis - stood at 15.02 percent, by end March 2005 which is signi