National Australia Bank, the country's largest bank by assets, on Friday reported a full-year cash net profit of 4.4 billion dollars (4.1 billion US), up 17.7 percent from the previous year. Ordinary net profit rose 4.2 percent to 4.6 billion dollars for the year ended September 30, it said.
NAB chief executive John Stewart said the 2007 result, which was in line with market forecasts, showed the bank was in "great shape". "This is a strong result built on the sound foundations of improved customer satisfaction along with employee and community engagement," he said.
Cash net profit is seen as the best measure of performance because it strips out one-off items and accounting adjustments. Stewart said the bank's businesses had "strong momentum". "We plan to grow our revenue at better than system growth rates in key customer segments, primarily in the areas related to integrated financial solutions, agribusiness and wealth management," he said. "Our guidance that annual operating expense growth will remain within inflation is extended to 2010."