Pursuits
Westpac First-Half Profit Misses Estimates as Bad Debts Rise
- Loan impairment charges increase to highest in six years
- Westpac expects bad debt charges to decline in second half
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Westpac Banking Corp. first-half profit narrowly missed estimates as charges for soured loans soared to the highest in six years. Shares fell the most in more than a month.
Cash profit, which excludes one-time items, was A$3.9 billion ($3 billion) in the six months ended March 31, compared with A$3.78 billion, a year earlier, the Sydney-based lender said in a statement Monday. That missed the A$4.025 billion average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.