Westpac deposits record result

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Friday 2nd November 2001

Australian bank Westpac (NZSE: WBC) has announced a record profit, including a 13% increase from its New Zealand business, WestpacTrust.

The bank delivered shareholders a tax-paid operating profit of A$1.903 billion for the year ended September with earnings per share jumping 16% to A102.8 cents per share. A final dividend of A32 cents per share has been declared.

The bank says group revenue was up 8%, continuing the growth momentum of recent years with net interest income rising 9%.

CEO, Dr David Morgan, says the strong performance shows Westpac's low risk strategy and tight focus on its customers is delivering for both customers and shareholders.

"Westpac's success in capturing a greater share of our customers' business has largely driven the growth. In Australia customers having a valuable multi-product relationship with Westpac grew 21% during the year to 1.32 million.

"We have also contained our costs at the same time as funding necessary investments for the future."

Profit on the New Zealand retail operations was up 13% to A$283 million, which the bank says was driven by improved lending volumes, particularly in the business segment, despite the sluggish economy.

"Business banking made strong gains throughout the year, achieving significant volume growth of 11%. This was
driven by several business initiatives including a refocus on acquiring new market share and credit process simplifications," says Dr Morgan.

Westpac says it is looking for further growth next year and believes the Australian economy is relatively well positioned to weather the impact of the global economic slowdown.

"Despite the difficult economic conditions, Westpac remains committed to generating revenue growth well above that of expenses and will continue to adopt a controlled approach to risk," Dr Morgan says.

"In most planning scenarios our strategy can deliver double-digit growth in our earnings per share and we see no current impediment to this in 2002."

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