Macquarie Group has revealed a strong full-year result, announcing a net profit after tax of $2,217 million, up 7.5 per cent.
The sale of the Macquarie Life’s risk business was amongst the drivers of the result along with the continuing performance of the company’s platform business.
The board determined a total ordinary dividend payment for the year of $4.70 per share.
Macquarie group managing director and chief executive, Nicholas Moore attributed the result to the strength of the firm’s global platform, the benefit of recent acquisitions and its ability to adapt to changing conditions.
“Macquarie’s annuity-style businesses (Macquarie Asset Management), Corporate and Asset Finance and Banking and Financial Services which represent approximately 70 per cent of the Group’s performance continued to perform well with combined net profit of $3,249 million, up four per cent on FHY16,” he said.
The company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today revealed that its Banking and Financial Services division delivered a 47 per cent increase in net profit contribution to $513 million.
It said the improved result reflected increased income from growth in Australian lending, deposit and platform average volumes as well as a gain on sale of Macquarie Life’s risk business.
The announcement said this was partially offset by a loss on the disposal of the US mortgages portfolio, increased impairment charges predominately on equity investments and intangible assets, increased costs mainly due to elevated project activity as well as a change in approach to the capitalisation of software expenses in relation to the Core Banking platform.
Moore pointed to a positive outlook for the group, saying Macquarie remained well-positioned to deliver superior performance in the medium-term due to its deep expertise in major markets, strength in diversity and ability to adapt its portfolio mix to changing market conditions.
