Commonwealth Bank's Fiscal Year Profit Falls, Raises Dividend

By Alice Uribe

SYDNEY--Commonwealth Bank of Australia posted a 6% fall in annual net profit, with growth in its core businesses offset by lower lending and deposit margins.

CBA, Australia's biggest bank by market value and the country's largest mortgage lender, said its net profit fell to 9.39 billion Australian dollars (US$6.23 billion) in the 12 months through June. Full-year revenue was down 2% on year to A$26.92 billion.

Consensus forecasts compiled by FactSet projected CBA's full-year profit at A$9.50 billion.

Cash earnings--the measure followed by analysts that strips out items including hedging and losses or gains on acquisitions and asset sales--fell by 2% to A$9.84 billion from the previous year.

Directors of the company declared a final dividend of A$2.50 a share, up from A$2.40 a share last 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 12.3% in fiscal 2024, up 10 basis points compared to the previous year.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 13, 2024 18:04 ET (22:04 GMT)

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