ICG is rocked by its first loss in 20 years

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The specialist finance house posted losses of £67 million in the year to 31 March against profits of £230 million the previous year and slashed its dividend by 37% to 41p a share.

Chairman John Manser said: "While we were certainly as bearish as anyone else in the run-up to the bursting of the credit bubble, we did not anticipate the severity of the impact on financial markets."

ICG, whose investments include airports owner BAA and bingo halls group Gala, made provisions for bad debts of £273 million last year, up from £46 million the year before.

Managing director Tom Attwood said a number of investments deteriorated sharply as the credit markets "moved from bad to dreadful, very much worse than anyone could have anticipated".

But he said he expected provisions to be lower this year and the shares, which were trading at 1595p a year ago, rose 743⁄4p to 535p today. ICG halved its exposure in the UK in the build-up to the credit crunch and turned its back on other weak markets.

"We backed off the UK because we were worried about the economy," said Attwood.

"It feels a bit better now but we think this will take a very long time to sort out."