Heartland on track to meeting FY earnings target with $8.5 mln profit in 1Q

Friday 1st November 2013

Heartland New Zealand, the bank formed from the merger of Canterbury and Southern Cross building societies and Marac Finance, says it's on track to meeting its annual earnings target at the end of the first quarter.

The lender reported profit of $8.5 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, putting it on track to meet annual forecast guidance of between $34 million and $37 million, chief executive Jeff Greenslade told shareholders at today's annual meeting in Christchurch, according to speech notes published on the stock exchange.

Greenslade said the lender had cut its cost to income ratio to 54 percent by the end of September from 65.5 percent at the end of June, while signalling the bank will face subdued credit growth in the current year.

Heartland will continue to focus on livestock, vehicle, and small and medium enterprise business lending, and will seek to speed up earnings growth with potential acquisitions, he said.

The shares rose 1.2 percent to 85 cents today, and have climbed 22 percent this year, outpacing the 17 percent increase in the NZX All Index, a capital measure of all domestic stocks, over the same period.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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