BOQ annual profit up 2%
Bank of Queensland Limited (BOQ) said its profit increased 2% year on year to $141.1 million as revenue growth and reduced income tax expenses more than offset the increase in expenses and bad debt charges. The company said normalised NPAT of $187.4 million for FY09 was up 21% on the previous year.
The bank maintained its interim dividend of 26c per share, bringing the total dividend for this financial year to 52c per share.
Managing Director David Liddy said the bank was more robust than prior to the Global Financial Crisis and now had a platform ready to drive its continued growth forward.
“Not only did we achieve our earnings forecasts, we also again outpaced the vast majority of our competitors in terms of loan growth,” Mr Liddy said.
“In addition, the Bank’s retail deposits increased 16% from the previous record year, enabling us to fund 88% of growth in loans under management this year and demonstrating our ability to re-focus our Owner-Managed Branch network according to changing market conditions.”
Mr Liddy said the strong growth in retail funding assisted in building up record levels of liquidity for the bank and enabled it to focus on margins in the second half, which he said was demonstrated by a seven basis point increase in Net Interest Margin to 1.59%.
He added that the company’s cost-to-income ratio decreased to 49.9% in FY09, a 6.2% decrease from the previous year as a result of cost disciplines and expanding revenue base.
Mr Liddy expects bad debts to peak in the coming financial year, but the bank had increased its General Reserve for Credit Losses to account for this.
“The Bank is in a strong position in terms of funding and capital and after the recent capital raising our Tier 1 Capital, at approximately 9.6% and total capital of 12.2%, is at the upper end of any Australian bank,” said Mr Liddy.
“We are determined, having achieved self sufficiency on funding, to achieve a similar status with respect to capital.
As at 1036 AEST, Bank of Queensland shares were up 33c to $12.66.
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