Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said its cash profit from continuing operations fell 42% year over year for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, as credit impairment charges swelled.
ANZ's full-year cash profit from continuing operations was A$3.76 billion, falling from A$6.47 billion in the prior year, the bank announced in an Oct. 29 release. Including discontinued operations, cash profit for the full year fell 41% to A$3.66 billion from A$6.16 billion in the year-ago period.
Credit impairment charges for the year soared to A$2.74 billion from A$794 million in the prior-year period. The bank attributed this large increase to the impact of COVID-19 as well as a first-half impairment of Asian associates of A$815 million, which is also related to the pandemic
It had earlier warned of an after-tax charge of A$528 million, related to remediation costs, software amortization and write-down of goodwill in its Pacific business, which would impact its fiscal second-half results.
In the full year ended Sept. 30, ANZ's statutory profit attributable to shareholders slumped 40% to A$3.58 billion from A$5.95 billion in the year-ago period.
EPS dropped to A$1.18 from A$2.019 on a diluted basis. The S&P Capital IQ consensus GAAP EPS estimate was A$1.26 for the fiscal full year.
The group's net interest margin stood at 1.63% as of Sept. 30, down from 1.75% in the prior-year period.
ANZ's gross impaired assets ratio clocked in at 0.40% as of Sept. 30, compared with 0.39% as of March 31 and 0.33% as of Sept. 30, 2019. Its net impaired assets ratio clocked in at 2.6% as of Sept. 30, compared with 2.5% as of March 31 and 2.0% as of Sept. 30, 2019.
Under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's Basel III guidelines, the group's common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 11.3% at the end of September, compared with 10.8% as of March 31 and 11.4% a year earlier.
Under internationally comparable Basel III guidelines, the group's CET1 ratio was 16.7%, compared with 15.5% as of March 31 and 16.4% a year earlier.
The bank proposed a final dividend of 35 cents per share, fully franked. The dividend is scheduled to be paid Dec. 16 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 10. The bank distributed a 70% franked final dividend of 80 cents per share in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2019.