St George holds to EPS growth
St George Bank has issued an update to the market revealing strong ongoing performance in its retail deposit balances but a decline in its managed funds balances.
The bank said that it remained on track to meet its earnings per share growth target of 10 per cent in 2008 and reaffirmed this target notwithstanding the impact of the increased cost of funding and the current investment market’s volatility on the investment portfolio of St George Australia Pty Ltd and its wealth management division.
However, it said this target continued to exclude the impact of hedging and derivatives and assumed a reasonably sound economic environment.
Looking at its managed funds performance, St George said balances had fallen during the four months ended January 31 by 8.8 per cent, while inflows had grown at 14 per cent for the period, with deteriorating investment markets having impacted overall balance growth.
The bank said that while overall credit quality in the business banking area remained strong, it continued to monitor its exposure to individual entities including Centro Property Group, Allco Finance Group and MFS Group.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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