Investment bank Macquarie continued to ride financial markets in the three months to December, posting another record-breaking quarter in profits.
The company told the ASX in an update on Tuesday that favourable market conditions and a rapidly growing mortgage book helped lift revenues and earnings.
The news saw the shares rise almost 4% to $201.57, peaking above $204 in earlier trading. But that was well below the year’s high of $217.32, despite the record-breaking nature of the quarter.
Macquarie reported its assets under management grew by 2% in the three months to December 31 to $750.1 billion, caused largely by positive market impacts and strong returns from green energy, business services and technology investments.
Macquarie said that that Public Investments assets under management rose 2% to $522.5 million and Private Markets AUM rose 3% to $227.6 billion. This was driven by a combination of positive market movements and fund investments.
Banking and Financial Services (BFS) reported total deposits of $91.6 billion at the end of the quarter, which is up 4% since the end of September.
Macquarie also gained market share in the lucrative home loan market, with mortgages growing by 8% to $82.8 billion and its business banking loan portfolio was up 4% to $11.4 billion.
Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake said the results were a “record quarter” but added the team remained cautious with a conservative approach to capital. The group has a capital surplus of $11.5 billion.
“We continue to maintain a cautious stance, with a conservative approach to capital, funding and liquidity that positions us well to respond to the current environment.
That was a stance she repeated in a tele conference with analysts to discuss the update.
“More broadly, we remain well positioned over the medium term, based on our deep expertise in major markets, a diversified and adaptable mix of strong businesses, an ongoing program to identify cost-saving initiatives and efficiency, a strong and conservative balance sheet and a proven risk management framework and culture.”
Macquarie doesn’t publish earnings figures in its quarterly updates.
