The bank said it was funded into the second quarter of 2009, but added that the deteriorating value of its assets had cost it almost £400m in the first four months of this year.
Write-downs totalled £391m, higher than analysts had expected, but £199m of that total accounts for the impact of fair value changes to reserves and so will not hit the bank's profit.
In a conference call with analysts, the company stood by February's guidance when it warned it would not lift payouts and a significant worsening in market conditions could prompt a cut
Finance director Chris Rhodes said: "I said then that we were walking a tightrope between overall profitability and maintaining the dividend and we are still walking a tightrope.
"It is too early to call the dividend one way or another until we have the half-year numbers
Shares fell by 10 per cent to 456p
Alex Potter, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said he had assumed just £70m of write-downs.
He added: "This is the first bank to issue news on April trading and we would have hoped for more positive news due to April's credit market improvements."
A&L said operating profits without the write-downs would have been flat for the first four months of the year.
It has slowed its business in line with the tougher market conditions, as mortgage balances for the first four months of the year were down four per cent to £41.2bn.
It said its asset quality remained strong, with 2,650 of its 462,270 mortgage accounts being more than three months in arrears, an increase of 300 in the first four months and representing 0.57 per cent of all accounts.
The bank said there were no signs of stress in either its mortgage or unsecured personal loan portfolios, adding it expected its bad debt charge in the first half of 2008 to be slightly lower than the £50m reported last year.
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