ANZ Group Holdings Ltd.’s first-half profit met analyst expectations as margin pressure offset a move to claw back a larger chunk of the mortgage market.
(Bloomberg) — ANZ Group Holdings Ltd.’s first-half profit met analyst expectations as margin pressure offset a move to claw back a larger chunk of the mortgage market.
Cash profit came in at A$3.82 billion ($2.56 billion) in the six months to March 31, it said in a statement Friday. That was in line with forecasts of A$3.81 billion from a Bloomberg survey of analysts.
“The next six months will be more difficult than the last,” Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott said in the statement. “Competition in retail banking is as intense as it has ever been, both in Australia and New Zealand. We understand that sustained higher inflation and interest rates create further challenges for some households and businesses across the economy.”
ANZ was the second of Australia’s main four banks to report earnings this week, following National Australia Bank Ltd.’s record half-year result on Thursday. Despite strong headline numbers, investors are becoming increasingly concerned that margins have peaked, with markets pricing the Reserve Bank of Australia will start pivoting to rate cuts later this year amid signs of fragility in the economic outlook.
ANZ trumpeted growth rather than profitability. Despite missing expectations on the key profits driver — the difference between deposit rates paid and interest earned from loans — retail banking home loans grew faster than the average market rate while deposits continued to expand.
This focus on growth follows a number of moves aimed at staking out market share by the smallest of Australia’s largest four listed lenders following the A$4.9 billion deal to acquire the banking arm of Suncorp Group Ltd. last year and a major revamp of its digital interface called ANZ Plus.
“We continued the rollout of ANZ Plus, which had $6 billion of deposits at end-April from over 250,000 customers, 30% of which were new to bank, with 39% new to bank in March,” Elliott was quoted as saying.
The bank will pay an interim dividend of 81 cents per share, it said, up from 74 cents in October.
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