Macquarie Group posts profit decline
A more robust second half has failed to prevent Macquarie Group reporting a 24 per cent decline in net profit to $730 million.
In an announcement released to the Australian Securities Exchange today, the company announced net profit after tax attributable to ordinary shareholders of $730 million for the full year ended 31 March 2012, down 24 per cent.
It said profit for the second half of the year was $425 million, up 39 per cent on the first half.
Commenting on the result, Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore said global economic uncertainty had led to substantially lower levels of client activity in many of the company's capital markets-facing businesses.
He said this had been partly offset by the ongoing growth of Macquarie's annuity-style businesses.
However, all of Macquarie's operating groups maintained strong franchise positions during the year, according to Moore.
Macquarie announced a final unfranked dividend of $A0.75 per share, up from the first-half dividend of $A0.65 per share. However the total financial year unfranked dividend of $A1.40 per share is lower than that for last year.
Looking over the horizon, the company said market volatility made forecasting difficult, but it currently expected the 2013 financial year to be an improvement on the results achieved in 2012.
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