(29 July 2004 – Australia) Adelaide Bank has posted a record profit of $68.2 million for 2003/04, an increase of 33 percent on the previous year.The bank said the result, which exceeded analysts’ expectations, was built primarily on record lending, strong funding growth and reduced cost ratios.
The bank said its share of national home loan approvals had risen to 3.5 percent from 2.1 percent a year earlier.
Profit before tax was $97.2 million compared with $72.2 million in 2002/03.
Adelaide Bank chief executive officer, Barry Fitzpatrick, said all sectors of the bank’s operations had made significant contributions to bottom line profit.
“Home lending had the greatest impact, with loan approvals increasing from $4.69 billion in 2002/03 to $7.41 billion for 2003/04. This represents an increase of 58 percent,” he said.
Fitzpatrick said business banking had increased its lending portfolio over the year from $1.08 billion to $1.18 billion, an increase of nine percent.
He said the bank had reduced its cost to income ratio to 55.08 percent.