8% Rise Tipped In Westpac's Profits
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday May 1, 2008
WESTPAC Banking Corporation is expected to sidestep the bad debt troubles faced by ANZ Banking Group and report a healthy 8 per cent rise in its first-half cash profit today.
The consensus analysts' forecast for the cash profit, which strips out one-off items, is $1.815 billion, up 8.16 per cent on last year's figure of $1.678 billion. Like all the other banks, Westpac has been lifting interest rates on its lending products to offset higher wholesale borrowing costs caused by a global liquidity squeeze. But some analysts believe Westpac anticipated and responded to the severity of the impact of the credit market turmoil before anyone else. The presentation will be the first for new chief executive Gail Kelly.
© 2008 Illawarra Mercury
