ANZ Annual Profit Rises as Impairment Costs Fall

MELBOURNE, Australia--Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said its annual profit climbed 12% as credit impairments declined and there was no repeat of the prior year's hefty charges for software capitalization and restructuring costs.

Net profit rose to 6.41 billion Australian dollars (US$4.98 billion) in the year ended September from A$5.71 billion a year earlier, when it booked charges of more than A$1 billion, the Melbourne-based bank said Thursday.

Cash earnings--a measure that strips out revenue hedges, treasury shares and one-time items and is the basis for dividend payouts--were 18% higher at A$6.94 billion, slightly below the A$6.97 billion median of eight analyst forecasts compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

The bank said it planned to pay a final dividend of A$0.80 a share, unchanged from last year and again bringing the fiscal 2017 payout to A$1.60.

ANZ said its credit-impairment charge for the year was reduced by 38% to A$1.2 billion, though its net interest margin contracted to 1.99% from 2.07% the year before.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2017 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)