(15th January 2004 – Australia) Elders Rural Bank is set to report a strong half year result off the back of successful harvests in country Australia.Elders, which is a joint venture between Futuris Corporation and Bendigo Bank, said the past six months had been “very good” for the bank and that growth was in line with forecasts and budgets.
Chief executive Bob Jones said the bank had seen a large amount of cash coming in over the past few months as farmers benefited from the breaking of the drought and that bad debts remained low.
He said Elders continued to gain acceptance among farmers after four years of trading.
The bank managed to record a 19 percent lift in profits last year despite rural Australia being ravaged by the worst drought in a century. Retail deposits jumped A$1.6 billion in the year to June 2003 from $1.2 billion a year earlier.