National Australia Bank (NAB) yesterday announced the sale of an 80 percent stake in its insurance business to Japan’s Nippon Life for US$1.7 billion and outlined plans to divest troubled British asset Clydesdale Bank.
The lender tabled the moves in posting a 19.7 percent lift in annual net profit to A$6.34 billion (US$4.52 billion) for the year to Aug. 31 as it looks to bolster its balance sheet and provide a buffer to meet tougher regulatory requirements.
Cash profit, the industry’s preferred measure which strips out volatile items, rose 15.5 percent to A$5.84 billion, below expectations, with six-monthly dividends remaining at A$0.99. NAB shares ended 2.16 percent lower at A$31.72 in a generally soft market.
The bank confirmed the transaction for A$2.4 billion.
“Our wealth business has delivered significantly improved results since 2013, which has enabled us to secure the long term partnership we are announcing today,” NAB chief executive officer Andrew Thorburn said. “This partnership will enable us to continue to deliver insurance solutions to our customers while improving wealth returns for shareholders.”
OptionsXpress analyst Ben Le Brun said shareholders should be happy with the outcome.
“In terms of the price tag, I think the market will be quite comfortable with that, even quite pleased,” he said.
NAB also announced a timetable for a demerger and initial public offering (IPO) for its poorly-performing British business Clydesdale Bank, which was acquired in 1987, as it looks to focus on core Australian and New Zealand arms.
Thorburn said NAB planned to spin off 75 percent of the asset to NAB shareholders while the remaining 25 percent would be sold through an IPO to institutional investors in February next year.
“Significant progress has been made on the proposed transaction, including advanced engagement with key regulators and listing authorities in both jurisdictions,” he said.
The primary listing for Clydesdale will be on the London Stock Exchange.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
RSS