Paragon's pace to slow by half

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The group, which saw its shares collapse at the end of last year after it was forced into a emergency £287 million rights issue to shore up its balance sheet, said it will have cut its workforce by 30% in the last six months as it trims back on new lending.

But it added that it still believes that the buy-to-let market remains strong, with bad debts still at very low levels and demand for rented accommodation particularly strong as the housing market has generally weakened.

Paragon said its operating profit for the first half would be "marginally lower" than the same half last year but that it will take a hit of £10 million of exceptional costs relating to the rights issue and redundancies.

Paragon shares rose 2p to 97p.