National Australia Bank Reports 1st Half Net Profit of $3.21 Billion -- Update
May 05 2021 - 7:34PM
Dow Jones News
By Alice Uribe
SYDNEY--National Australia Bank Ltd.'s first-half net profit
more than doubled as the Australian and New Zealand economies
rebounded from the pandemic more strongly than expected.
The Australian bank said its statutory net profit totaled 3.21
billion Australian dollars (US$2.49 billion) in the six months
through March, up from A$1.31 billion at the corresponding stage of
the 2020 fiscal year.
Cash earnings--a measure closely tracked by analysts that strips
out non-core items such as revenue hedges and treasury shares--rose
by 95% to A$3.34 billion. This was ahead of consensus expectations
for cash earnings of A$2.95 billion.
Chief Executive Ross McEwan said risks remained, despite the
economic recovery in Australia and New Zealand.
"The recovery is not even, and some customers such as those in
international travel and hospitality, particularly in CBD areas,
still face significant challenges," he said.
Credit impairment charges for the first half were a write-back
of A$128 million, versus a charge of A$1.61 billion in the first
half of last year. NAB said this partly reflected the absence of
top-ups to forward-looking collective provisions for the potential
fallout of Covid-19.
Given the uncertain outlook, including the impact on customers,
NAB said it is keeping collective provisions "prudent" at 1.50% of
credit risk weighted assets.
Net interest margin declined by 4 basis points to 1.74%, which
NAB said reflected lower earnings rates on deposits and capital
after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a
record-low 0.25%. Tthis was partly offset by lower costs of funding
and home loan repricing.
Expenses were 18.6% lower in the half. Excluding large one-off
items in the first half of fiscal 2020, expenses rose 3.1% due in
part to the need for extra customer facing and support staff.
NAB said it continued to expect modest expense growth in the
2021 fiscal year of around 0-2%, excluding large notable items.
Directors of the lender declared an interim dividend of A$0.60
per share, doubling its midyear payout of last year. Consensus
expectations were for a A$0.56-a-share dividend.
The group's common equity tier 1 capital ratio was 12.37% at the
end of March, up 90 basis points from six months earlier.
"As we gain greater clarity as to the breadth and sustainability
of the recovery, we expect to reset our capital and dividends for a
more normal operating environment, " said NAB.
The lender expects to manage CET1 over time toward a target
range of 10.75%-11.25% and for future dividends to be guided by a
payout ratio range of 65-75% of cash earnings.
Write to Alice Uribe at alice.uribe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2021 19:19 ET (23:19 GMT)
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