Profits a drag on credit quality 03 March 2015 4:31PM Ian Rogers and Shereel Patel The external operating environment for banks continues to be uneasy, with company profits taking a turn for the worse.Australian business's aggregate gross operating profits fell 1.8 per cent in the December 2014 quarter compared with the September quarter and are seven per cent less than a year ago, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.The seasonally adjusted estimate for company gross operating profits fell 0.2 per cent in the December quarter 2014. A fall of 5.9 per cent was noted compared to December 2013.Profits fell in most industry sectors, but transport - often a warning of credit stress - bucked the trend and rose by close to ten per cent over one quarter, seasonally adjusted.