Great Western reports improved profit

John Kavanagh
National Australia Bank's US subsidiary, Great Western Bancorp, has released its first financial report since listing on the New York Stock Exchange last month.

NAB sold 31.8 per cent of its holding into an initial public offering and plans a full selldown of the asset over time.

GWB made a net profit of US$104.9 million for the year to September - an increase of nine per cent over the previous corresponding period.

The company said the result was due to a decline in non-interest expenses and improvement in asset quality.

The provision for loan losses was US$700,000, compared with a provision of US$11.6 million in the previous corresponding period.

Net interest income rose two per cent to US$74.9 million and the net interest margin rose from 3.24 per cent to 3.88 per cent over the year to September.

Return on equity was 7.3 per cent (return on tangible equity was 16.6 per cent).