COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia shares surged 3.6 per cent yesterday after the bank announced that a drop in costs and bad-debt charges helped lift its profit in the year ended June.
The bank, which is 70 per cent owned by the federal government, said after-tax profit rose 8.4 per cent to A$443.1 million (about HK$2.22 billion).
Earnings per share rose to 51.7 cents from 51.5 cents in the previous year.
The result, which was in line with analysts' expectations, included a one-time loss of $136.7 million associated with restructuring costs.
However, after deducting all non-recurring items from the result, the bank's profit looked extraordinarily healthy, said Linda Lyon, an analyst at Hambros Bank.
''It's a great result,'' she said. She calculated the bank's operating profit rose 26 per cent to $515 million, from $409 million a year ago, after discounting non-recurring items, including the restructuring charge.
Commonwealth shares closed up 35 cents at $9.95.
