(14 September 2015 – Australia) Macquarie Group said a weak Australian dollar and favourable trading conditions will help it in achieving a 40 percent increase in profit for the first-half ending September.
The Group repeated its guidance for net profit for the year to end-March 2016 to better the $1.6 billion recorded in the previous year, its highest annual profit since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Under chief executive Nicholas Moore, Macquarie has focussed on more stable returns from retail banking and annuity-style businesses, while reducing its exposure to its riskier traditional investment banking operations.
Macquarie Group’s shares have swelled 30 percent this year compared with a 6.2 percent drop in the benchmark index and losses of 8 percent to 14.2 per cent for Australia's “Big Four” lenders.