National Australia Bank first-half cash profit rises 6.5%

Sydney: National Australia Bank, the country’s No 1 lender, on Thursday posted a 6.5 per cent rise in fiscal first-half cash profit, in line with expectations, as its wealth business boasted double-digit earnings growth but bad loans ticked up. Cash profit for the six months to end of March rose to A$3.31 billion (Dh9.08 billion, $2.47 billion) from A$3.1 billion a year ago, coming in close to analysts’ estimate of A$3.35 billion. It left dividends unchanged at 99 cents a share for the third straight half. On Thursday, the bank posted a statutory net loss of A$1.74 billion, reflecting loss on the demerger and float of its UK operations earlier this year along with conduct charges.