The Bank of Queensland has released its official results for the first half of the financial year, with the company posting a $90.6 million loss.

 

The bank blames a sharp rise in bad loans after the company slipped from a net profit of $48 million in the same period last year. To offset the losses, the bank announced a $450 million share sale to boost its bottom line in late March.

 

The bank has struggled to return to form after the 2011 Queensland floods, which caused heavy falls in property valuations and resulted in a 30 per cent increase in non-performing loans.

 

However, the bank posted a normalised underlying profit before tax of $222 million, up from  3 per cent from the same time last year.

 

In announcing the result, BOQ Managing Director and CEO Stuart Grimshaw said the foundations had now been set for promising organic growth for BOQ.  

 

“Our prudent and robust approach to collective loan provisioning will enhance protection against any further deterioration in the Queensland economy; and the recent $450m capital raising is on track to position BOQ as one of the strongest Core Tier 1 banks in Australia today,” Mr Grimshaw said. 

 

“We’ve maintained discipline in expenditure, bucked the industry trend with improved NIM performance in a tough funding environment and taken a responsible and conservative approach to management of our loan book. 

 

“With a new executive team at the helm, we look forward to getting on with the job of delivering our strategy for growth,” he said