CBA Posts 6% Fall in Annual Net Profit, Plans New Buyback

   By Alice Uribe 
 

SYDNEY--Commonwealth Bank of Australia posted a 6% fall in annual net profit, flagging that downside risks are building as higher interest rates start to impact mortgage customers and cost-of-living pressures bite.

CBA, Australia's biggest bank by market value and the country's largest mortgage lender, said its net profit fell to 10.09 billion Australian dollars (US$6.6 billion) in the 12 months through June from A$10.77 billion a year earlier.

Cash earnings--the measure followed by analysts that strips out items including hedging and losses or gains on acquisitions and asset sales--rose by 6% to A$10.16 billion from the previous year.

Directors of the company declared a final dividend of A2.40 a share, up from A$2.10 a share last year. CBA said it also intended to launch a new A$1 billion share buyback in the new fiscal year.

The bank's closely watched Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio, a key measure of a bank's ability to withstand financial shocks, was 12.2% in fiscal 2023, up 10 basis points on the first half.

Consensus forecasts compiled by FactSet projected CBA's full-year profit at A$10.13 billion.

Write to Alice Uribe at alice.uribe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2023 18:11 ET (22:11 GMT)

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