BNZ 9-month profit edges up 1.8% on smaller bad debt charges

Tuesday 29th August 2017

Bank of New Zealand, the local unit of National Australia Bank, posted a 1.8 percent increase in net profit for the first nine months of the year as smaller charges on bad debt made up for largely flat income.

Net profit rose to $692 million in the nine months ended June 30 from $680 million, the lender's quarterly disclosure statement shows. Impairment losses shrank to $42 million from $106 million a year earlier, making up for a dip in operating earnings as expenses rose 5.6 percent to $698 million and offset flat operating income of $1.7 billion.

Net interest income slipped to $1.31 billion in the nine-month period from $1.32 billion a year earlier, while the bank's loan book expanded to $78.15 billion as at June 30 from $72.56 billion a year earlier. Of that, housing loans rose to $36.61 billion from $33.91 billion, and other term lending increased to $37.57 billion from $34.32 billion.

Earlier this month NAB noted an improvement in gross loans to assets in the June quarter, "mainly reflecting improved conditions for New Zealand dairy customers", and $158 million of loans past 90 days due but not impaired plus a $545 million provision for bad debts amounted to 0.89 percent of gross loans, compared to 0.99 percent three months earlier.

BNZ's June quarter disclosure statement said a recovery in farmgate returns for dairy farmer returned the majority of New Zealand farmers above breaking even but it was still "working closely with those customers for whom some level of financial pressure remains following the lower 2015 and 2016 pay-outs."

BNZ's term deposits increased to $30.43 billion as at June 30 from $26.8 billion a year earlier, while total deposits and other borrowing increased to $59.9 billion from $56.32 billion.

(BusinessDesk)

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