Commonwealth Bank of Australia has lifted first half cash profit 3.92 per cent to a record $4.804 billion, but has decided against increasing its interim dividend.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has lifted first half cash profit 3.92 per cent to a record $4.804 billion, but has decided against increasing its interim dividend.
Cash profit for the six months to December 31, the bank's preferred measure of profitability, was up from $4.62 billion for the prior corresponding period and was slightly higher than the analyst consensus of $4.77 billion.
Net profit rose 1.83 per cent to $4.61 billion.
Australia's biggest lender lifted the proportion of profit paid to shareholders one percentage point to 70.8 per cent, but the dividend was unchanged at $1.98, fully franked, due to the effect of last year's rights issue.
CBA said the board had considered the sustainability of its dividend payments in making the decision.
"All our stakeholders rely on our stability, particularly when markets are volatile," chief executive Ian Narev said in a statement.
"Global volatility concerns our customers, and presents challenges here in Australia. We must be cautious, but also remain focused on the long term to ensure that Australia remains a great place to live and to invest."
Home lending grew 6.5 per cent, contributing to a nine per cent increase in average interest-earning assets to $806 billion.
More than half of those assets, $430 billion, were home loan balances.
That was partially offset by a five basis point decline in net interest margin - the money the bank makes on its loans - which was hit by an increase in funding costs amid global market volatility.
Operating expenses to income ratio was constant at 42.2 per cent, although return on equity dropped 17.2 per cent due to the increased equity banked in last year's $5.1 billion capital raising.
Commonwealth Bank shares were up 1.3 per cent to $73.85 each at 9:20am.
