National Australia Bank's (NAB) cash earnings for 2009/10 improved by 19.3% to $A4.6 billion, despite a slight dip in revenue.NAB's business banking division, and its wealth management arms, MLC and NAB Wealth, were key contributors to the rise, together
National Australia Bank’s (NAB) cash earnings for 2009/10 improved by 19.3% to $A4.6 billion, despite a slight dip in revenue.
NAB’s business banking division, and its wealth management arms, MLC and NAB Wealth, were key contributors to the rise, together with an improvement in the charge to provide for bad and doubtful debts and lower mark-to-market losses.
Excluding acquisitions and foreign exchange movements, revenue declined by 1.0% to $A16.7 billion, due in part to lower returns from NAB’s treasury.
NAB’s asset quality stabilised during the year, and the group’s bad and doubtful debt charge was down 40.7% to $A2.3 billion.
The company’s statutory net profit increased by 63.2% to $4.2 billion, but the size of the recovery was due to the prior year being affected by several legal and tax proceedings and a higher charge for bad and doubtful debts.
NAB, which owns the Bank of New Zealand, said the New Zealand economy continued its slow recovery from a challenging period stemming from the recent domestic recession.
BNZ’s overall expenses and bad and doubtful debt charges were in line with the prior year. In New Zealand dollar terms, the Bank of New Zealand’s net profit rose by 1.4% to $524 million.
NAB’s shares last traded at $A25.48, up 73Ac from Tuesday’s close.
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