After a slow first half when its loan book shrank, Heritage Bank regained momentum in the June half with a modest return to growth in loan approvals and deposits.Heritage released unaudited financial results in a media release yesterday.  It reported net profit of A$35.7 million for the year to June - down 3.5 per cent on the prior year.The previous year's result included a gain on the sale of Visa shares. After adjusting for this one-off gain, underlying net profit was up 2.2 per cent.Total assets were up 0.1 per cent to $8.5 billion. Loan approvals increased by 7.5 per cent to $1.4 billion for the full year.Loan arrears greater then 30 days were 0.39 per cent. Impairment losses were down 27 per cent.Retail deposits grew by $337 million to $4.7 billion.The bank's capital adequacy was 13.3 per cent and its liquidity ratio 22.2 per cent.The bank increased its workforce by 20 during the year.