Business banking strong contributor to St George result
(2 May 2007 – Australia) St George Bank has posted an interim cash profit of A$568 million, up 14.7 percent on the previous year, driven by a strong business banking performance.
The bank upgraded its 2007 EPS growth forecast to 11 to 12 percent from 10 percent on the back of the result.
St George said its commercial banking relationship model continued to perform strongly with receivables in the middle market growing almost 25 percent to A$20.9 billion. Almost 30 percent of middle market receivables came from Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
The bank said it would continue to invest in this part of the business across all states.
St George grew its residential lending book by 10.2 percent to A$65.3 billion while retail deposits increased by 8.5 percent to A$44.8 billion.
Wealth management grew 19.2 percent to A$44.3 billion, with the division contributing 12 percent to the bank’s pre-tax earnings.
St George managing director Gail Kelly said the result reflected an excellent contribution from all divisions.
"Our strong revenue momentum has underpinned a significant decline in the expense to income ratio to an industry leading 42.6 percent.
"We have strong momentum going into the second half and have confidence in achieving our upgraded 2007 EPS growth target," she said.
St George said its commercial banking relationship model continued to perform strongly with receivables in the middle market growing almost 25 percent to A$20.9 billion. Almost 30 percent of middle market receivables came from Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
The bank said it would continue to invest in this part of the business across all states.
St George grew its residential lending book by 10.2 percent to A$65.3 billion while retail deposits increased by 8.5 percent to A$44.8 billion.
Wealth management grew 19.2 percent to A$44.3 billion, with the division contributing 12 percent to the bank’s pre-tax earnings.
St George managing director Gail Kelly said the result reflected an excellent contribution from all divisions.
"Our strong revenue momentum has underpinned a significant decline in the expense to income ratio to an industry leading 42.6 percent.
"We have strong momentum going into the second half and have confidence in achieving our upgraded 2007 EPS growth target," she said.
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