Loman outlook raised to 'positive' by S&P, but ratings stay the same.

Lomas Financial Corp., struggling to reestablish its reputation after emerging from bankruptcy, has finally won a measure of respect from a significant quarter: Standard & Poor's.

S&P raised its outlook on the Houston, Tex.-based company and its Lomas Mortgage USA unit to positive, from stable.

Charles Titterton, the S&P analyst who made the change, said it signified that the company was moving in the right direction and that if the movement continued, the two might qualify for upgraded credit ratings.

|A Very Efficient Servicer'

The mortgage until now has a BB rating on its senior debt, while the parent is rated B-plus.

"No. 1, we consider Lomas to be a very efficient servicer of mortgages and and that's very important going forward," said Mr. Titterton.

"That's the goal most mortgage companies work toward. In the right interest environment, servicing provides an annuity-type stream of income. If you do it efficiently, and keep costs down, it provides good long-term income."

In October, Lomas' shares were rated as a sell by Sy Jacobs, an analyst with Alex. Brown & Sons, Baltimore. His principal reason was that he feared the company had not sufficiently. amortized its servicing portfolio and did not have sufficient originations to replace prepaid loans.

Analyst Downgrades Issue

About a month later, the company took a $50 million write-down of its portfolio, citing an acceleration of prepayments in November.

A second analyst has since downgraded Lomas.

Mr. Titterton, however, was more sanguine about the future. "Lomas has been hurt relatively more than some companies that have big retail originations. They have to go out and buy loans. When prepayments fall, companies like Lomas, which rely on correspondent and bulk purchases, will do relatively well."

But he also pointed to "continuing weakness of consolidated parent earnings" and "moderately aggressive consolidated financial leverage" as offsets to the generally favorable outlook.

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