Date issued: 22 May 2008

NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 4 APRIL 2008

Strong performance in an unprecedented year

• Underlying profit before tax up 17% to £781.1 million (2007: underlying £668.6 million).
• Reported profit before tax, which includes merger and similar costs of £59.0 million, up 5% to £686.1 million (2007: £652.0 million).
• With a focus on the delivery of real value to its members, Nationwide estimates £690 million benefit has been provided to members in the year through competitive interest rates and lower fees and charges.
• Net interest income up 21% to £1,796.3 million (2007: £1,479.3 million).
• Underlying cost to income ratio improved to 55.7% (2007: 56.6%).

Prudent and robust balance sheet

• Following the merger with Portman, total assets up 30% to £179.0 billion (2007: £137.4 billion).
• Balance sheet funded predominantly by retail savings, with its wholesale funding ratio of 31.0% (2007: 28.4%) being one of the lowest levels within its peer group.
• Proportion of mortgage accounts 3 months or more in arrears of 0.36%, significantly less than the industry average of 1.21%.
• Charge for impairment losses on loans and advances down 21% to £105.9 million.
• Total capital increased by 19% to £9.5 billion (2007: £8.0 billion).
• Basel II solvency ratio of 12.4%, with Tier 1 of 9.7% and Core Tier 1 of 8.1%.

Net lending funded from retail deposits

• Exceptional performance in the retail savings market, attracting £9.1 billion of net retail deposits, an estimated market share of 19%.
• Conservative and sustainable approach to lending and focus on quality resulting in Group net residential mortgage lending of £6.7 billion (2007: £11.2 billion).
• Total Group net lending of £8.9 billion, including commercial lending of £2.4 billion, funded by retail deposits of £9.1 billion.

Response to Credit Crunch

• Balance sheet growth moderated to reduce cash flow strain.
• Lending volumes contained to match retail deposits.
• Liquidity levels increased to £27.3 billion (2007: £14.0 billion) increasing prudential liquidity ratio to 15.7% (2007: 10.4%) making balance sheet more robust.
• Investment in 6 structured investment vehicles (SIVs) have been restructured resulting in an increase to its impairment charge of £67.1 million in the second half of the year, creating a total charge of £102.2 million.
• No direct exposure to U.S. sub-prime mortgages.

Strategic developments

• Merger with Portman Building Society successfully completed on 28 August 2007. The enlarged Society has over 900 retail outlets and around 14 million members. Synergies of approximately £90 million per year are expected to be achieved by 2009/10.
• Strategic Distribution Agreement with Legal & General for the supply of protection, investment and pension products effective from February 2008. Nationwide's customers now benefit from access to a wide range of competitively priced products from one of the UK's top providers.

Nationwide's chief executive, Graham Beale, said:

"Nationwide has delivered a strong performance in a challenging year during which the industry has faced unprecedented market conditions.

"Our underlying profit increased by 17% and we have been able to return approximately £690 million to our members through better pricing than our competitors. We have concluded the largest ever building society merger and the integration of the Portman business is on track to deliver synergies of £90 million a year by 2009/10. In addition, we have completed the sale of our life insurance and investment business to Legal & General; our new distribution agreement with L&G will provide our members with access to a broad range of market leading products.

"Nationwide has an inherently conservative business model with a strong capital base, high levels of retail funding and a low loan to deposit ratio. We funded our net lending in the year entirely from retail receipts. Our consistently prudent approach to lending over a number of years during which we have focused on quality rather than volume, means our arrears remain at very low levels, and are less than a third of the industry average.

"The Society is conscious of the difficulties faced by consumers in these disrupted market conditions and we are playing our part to help by continuing to focus on offering mortgages that meet the needs of both existing members and first time home buyers. We are particularly pleased to have been able to provide a safe home for savers during recent months, with an estimated market share for retail deposits of 19%.

"We welcome the Bank of England's recent initiative with the Special Liquidity Scheme and continue to work with the regulatory authorities in their efforts to deliver liquidity support to the markets. This should ease increased funding costs and contribute towards the recovery of more normal market conditions.

"Whilst the environment will remain challenging, the market now has a much more transparent and realistic view of the cost of risk. Through ongoing prudent cash flow management and disciplined risk based decisions, I am confident that Nationwide will continue to provide its customers and members with the security and value for which we are known."

Notes to editors

The full Preliminary Results Announcement is available here
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/about_nationwide/results_and_accounts/prelim_apr_2008.htm

Photographs of Graham Beale
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mediacentre/graham_beale.asp

Photographs of Mark Rennison and Matthew Wyles
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mediacentre/executive_directors.asp

IFRS Underlying Results

The results have been prepared in line with International Financial Reporting Standards accounting policies ('IFRS'). Where appropriate, certain aspects of the results are presented to reflect management's view of the underlying results, to provide a clearer representation of the performance of the Group.

Profit before tax shown on a reported basis and an underlying basis are set out on page 10 of the Preliminary Results Announcement (link above). Reported profit before tax of £686.1 million has been adjusted for movements in the value of derivatives and hedge accounting of £30.7 million, policyholder tax of £14.8 million, and items relating to the Portman merger and disposal of subsidiaries totalling £49.5 million, to derive an underlying profit before tax of £781.1 million.

Impact of Portman Merger on Financial Results

On 28 August 2007, the Society merged with Portman Building Society. The assets and liabilities acquired as a result of the merger are incorporated at their carrying value in the Portman cessation accounts, adjusted to reflect the Group's accounting policies. The income statement includes the income and expenditure relating to former Portman business from 28 August 2007.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in the Preliminary Results Announcement are forward looking. Although Nationwide believes that the expectations reflected in these forward looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to be an accurate reflection of actual results. Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.