Wide Bay Australia yesterday said it would cut its interim dividend by three cents, or nine per cent, to 30 cents a share. The building society will also try to claw back as much of the dividend as it can in capital by lifting the discount on the dividend reinvestment plan to 7.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent.Wide Bay reported an increase of 16 per cent in net profit to $9.6 million in the half year to December 2008, a profit improved by the takeover of the much smaller Mackay Permanent Building Society last year. Earnings per share fell slightly to 32.6 cents per share.There was slight growth in the loan book to $2.0 billion. New lending for the half decreased to $209 million from $266 million but has since steadied, in part due to the increased grant to first-home buyers from the government.Retail deposits were steady at 53 per cent of funding. Wide Bay said it maintained interest margins even as it began to tap wholesale markets to replace funding previously provided by the securitisation of part of its loan book.There's not much data on asset quality in the half year financials. There was a tiny credit, rather than any charge, for bad debts thanks to recoveries on prior provisions. There's no real mention of loan quality, such as overdue loans and arrears.The profit from the wholly owned lenders mortgage insurance company more than halved to $612,000 in the half due to higher provisioning for possible claims.