Thornburg expects to report "substantial" 1Q loss

| The Associated Press

5/13/2008 - 5/13/08

NEW YORK — Thornburg Mortgage Inc. says it expects to report a substantial loss for the first quarter because of the volatility and illiquidity plaguing the mortgage industry.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Santa Fe, N.M.-based company said Monday it believes it swung to a big loss in the first quarter from a profit of $75 million in the first quarter last year.

The company blamed volatility in the mortgage market, which crimped the value of Thornburg's $10.69 billion in bonds backed by home loans.

Thornburg Mortgage also delayed filing its quarterly report for the first three months of the year as the company assesses a deal it made in March to raise cash.

Like most mortgage lenders, Thornburg Mortgage ran into trouble raising money in the past year. The company's financial backers stopped lending and in many cases demanded their money back.

Thornburg sold $1.35 billion of a special kind of bond earlier this year, and granted warrants on the company's stock and contracts entitling investors to the principal payments on some of Thornburg's bonds.

The company said it needs to figure out the value of the investments it sold so it can judge the deal's impact on quarterly results.

Thornburg Mortgage's stock closed Monday at 76 cents. The stock topped $28 last year.