Macquarie posts first profit fall in 17 years

Macquarie Group, Australia's biggest investment bank, reported a 64% fall in second-half profit on May 1 as it was forced to make large asset write-downs. Return-on-equity was 9.9% for the year, down from 23.7% for the prior year. It then announced and completed a A$540 million $396 million share placement in order to strengthen its balance sheet.

The drop in net income to A$267 million in the six months ending March 31, from A$743 million in the same period a year ago, was in line with analysts' expectations, but the 52% drop in full-year profit to A$871 million marked the first decline in 17 years. The bank had warned in February that full-year profit would...