Heritage stirs from its slumber

Improving interest margins have worked to restore the profit of Heritage Building Society, with a rise of 50 per cent in net profit to $16.1 million for the half year to December 2009.

Taking into account hedging gains and other one-off items, including the revaluation of shares in Visa, Heritage reported a net profit of $30.6 million. Heritage, however, presents this latter profit as "total comprehensive income" and in recent reporting periods has steered these additional items away from the main profit and loss report - perhaps because they showed substantial losses in each of the December 2008 and June 2009 half years.

Heritage is now releasing financial statements in a more timely fashion thanks to the listing of $50 million in subordinated debt on the Australian Securities Exchange in October 2009. The society remains a mutual, and the largest mutual among building societies and credit unions.

Ignoring the effect of the hedging and other one-off gains, Heritage produced a return on equity of 15 per cent annualised for the half and a return on assets of 0.42 per cent.

The society reported asset growth of five per cent over six months and eight per cent over one year. Lending growth was three per cent over six months and the same over one year.

Heritage has thus begun to grow assets again and to some extent is shedding the reputation it developed among third-party originators of having gone quiet since the onset of the financial crisis.

Loan approvals were $830 million during the December 2009 half, up by one third on the corresponding half in 2008.

Third-party introducers still account for 40 per cent of new business, down from a longer term average of 50 per cent.

Heritage settled a wrangle with Société Générale Australia over the latter's attempts to make Heritage pay an increased margin on the warehouse trust provided by SG to the building society for many years.

In late 2009 Heritage and SG agreed to convert the trust into a term funding facility, though how much additional margin Heritage must pay was not disclosed.

Westpac and National Australia Bank maintained warehouse lines to Heritage.