** Shares of regional Australian bank Bendigo and Adelaide BEN.AX plunge 18.2% to A$10.88, their lowest levels since May 30, 2024
** Stock falls as much as 19% to mark its worst intraday pct drop
** BEN stock top loser in the ASX200 benchmark index .AXJO, which down 0.8%
** More than 1.7 million shares change hands, vs the 30-day average of around 1 million
** BEN reports 1H25 cash NPAT of A$265.2 million ($168.38 million), below Visible Alpha consensus of A$278.4 million
** Says income impacted by margin pressures, driven by higher funding costs to support lending growth
** UBS Head of Australian Bank Research John Storey says BEN's result "reads fairly poor, with a lot of work to do and delivery needed to meet expectations on full-year numbers"
** Citi says market will question the strategy to grow aggressively in mortgages given the associated asset pricing and funding headwinds
** BEN stock down 15% this year, including the day's moves
($1 = 1.5751 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com;))
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