The Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) has cuts its final dividend after reporting a slight fall in full year net profit this morning due to an increase in impairment expenses.
Net profit after tax for the 12 months to June 30 came to $4.723 billion, down 1 per cent from the $4.79 billion recorded the year before. The result includes a $612 million after tax gain from its acquisition of Bankwest.
The bank’s cash earnings, which strip’s out volatile items, fell 7 per cent to $4.42 billion.
CBA recorded an impairment charge of $2.94 billion against problem loans.
Commenting on the outlook for the 2010 financial year CEO Ralph Norris says the 2009 financial year has been a challenging one and the outlook remains uncertain. Saying that overall credit growth in Australia is expected to slow through 2010 and economic conditions are likely to remain challenging.
CBA declared a final dividend of $1.15 a share - a 25 per cent cut on last year, and announced plans to raise $700 million through an issue of hybrid capital. The Commonwealth Bank’s profits have gradually risen over the last four years.
Global property investor Stockland Group (ASX:SGP) has reported a huge loss for the full year after revaluations of its investment properties and impairment charges.
Net loss for the 12 months to June 30 came to $1.8 billion, compared to a profit of $704.6 million the year before.
Before the property revaluations, the company’s underlying earnings came to $631.4 million, down 6.3 per cent.
Managing director Matthew Quinn says that despite the large headline accounting loss, the company has delivered a reasonable operating result given the difficult economic conditions.
The company says its accounting loss was due to a number of negative non-cash items including a $1.13 billion downward revaluation of investment properties, a $462 million inventory impairment charge, a $362 million goodwill impairment, a $334 million impairment of strategic investments and a $95 million charge related to fair value adjustments of financial instruments and foreign exchange movements.
Stockland says its guidance for fiscal 2010 is for earnings per share of 28 cents, down from 38.8 cents in fiscal 2009 before accounting adjustments. Looking back over the past five years Stockland’s best net profit was in 2007.
Share registry operator Computershare Ltd (ASX:CPU) has posted a 9 per cent fall net profit for fiscal 2009.
Net profit for the year to June 30 came to US$255.7 million, with revenue down 4.5 per cent to US$1.5 billion.
The company reported its sixth consecutive year of management earnings per share growth, up 1 per cent to 52.11 cents, management earnings for the 2010 financial year are expected to be similar.
CEO Stuart Crosby says if market conditions remain as they are at present the company anticipates a similar result this year.
Computershare declared a final dividend of 11 cents a share. Computershare’s profits have been increasing year on year for the past four years.
