Macquarie posts improved result
Macquarie Group has announced a 17 per cent increase in net profit of $851 million for the full-year ended 31 March.
Announcing the result to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today, Macquarie Group managing director and chief executive Nicholas Moore said it reflected a general improvement in global market conditions together with strong cost controls across the group.
Moore said the board had resolved to pay a final ordinary dividend of $1.25 per ordinary share.
However, he said client activity remained subdued for Macquarie's capital markets-facing businesses and affected the performance of some groups.
Dealing with group performance, the Macquarie ASX announcement pointed to a solid contribution from its banking and financial services group, with a 22 per cent increase in net profit of $355 million.
It said the group had continued to grow its Australian wrap platform, with funds under administration increasing 14 per cent to $25.1 billion, while the migration of Perpetual's $7.6 billion private wealth administration platform was to be completed post the balance date.
The ASX announcement acknowledged that Macquarie Private Wealth had in January entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). It said the company was "committed to implementing the changes necessary to improve its compliance processes and systems".
Commenting on the outlook for Macquarie, Moore said the group remained well-positioned, with a strong and diverse global platform and specialist skills across a range of products and asset classes.
He said that while market volatility made forecasting difficult, it was currently expected — subject to market conditions — that the 2014 financial year net profit contribution would be up on 2013.
Recommended for you
In this episode of Relative Return Unplugged, hosts Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and Keith Ford are joined by special guest Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP, to break down what’s happening with the Trump trade and the broader global economy, and what it means for Australia.
In this episode, hosts Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and Keith Ford take a look at what’s making news in the investment world, from President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations to Cbus fronting up to a Senate inquiry.
In this new episode of The Manager Mix, host Laura Dew speaks with Claire Smith, head of private assets sales at Schroders, to discuss semi-liquid global private equity.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Eric Braz, MFS portfolio manager on the global small and mid-cap fund, the MFS Global New Discovery Strategy, to discuss the power of small and mid-cap investing in today’s global markets.