Australia’s Westpac posts record first-half profit

Australian banking giant Westpac on Friday reported a better-than-expected 11 per cent increase in first-half net profit to a record A$3.3 billion (HK$26.2 billion).

Australia’s second largest bank by market capitalisation said cash earnings, the preferred measure which strips out volatile items, were up 10 per cent to A$3.53 billion (HK$28.1 billion) against the first half last year.

Analysts had forecast cash profit of A$3.47 billion (HK$27.6 billion) for the six months to March 31.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1229032/australias-westpac-posts-record-first-half-profit