As we thought about it, we thought it was kind of a tough deal: now they have them, now they don't. |
At a group level we expect a strong operating performance and growth in market shares from the majority of our business lines, however increases in underlying profit will be slower if the general insurance trading margin reverts to its long-term sustainable range and if loan losses increase from current historic lows. |
Australian banks have a higher PE ratio, (share price divided by earnings per share), so it would seem unlikely that foreign banks would rush in to launch a dilutive takeover, |
But it's not going to be an aggressive rollout or anything like that - we'll be very cautious. |
The fundamentals of the business are strong but the result was enhanced by solid equity markets, historic low loan losses, a high insurance trading result and the fact that Suncorp has performed above systems growth in key areas, |
We've got a dozen branches in Melbourne and we're starting to market them now, but over time we intend to grow our branch network across the country, |
Weather events are clearly unpredictable, but it is hoped that the 2004-05 experience, which was the worst storm period for the last nine years ... will not be repeated, |