The Macquarie group has posted its full year profit for the year ended this March, recording a net profit after tax of $720 million, down 24 per cent on last year.

 

The year to 31 March 2012 saw substantially lower levels of client activity in many of our capital markets facing businesses caused by global economic uncertainty, which was partly offset by the ongoing growth of our annuity style businesses,” Macquarie Group Managing Director and CEO Nicholas Moore said.

 

The group blamed its struggling derivatives business, saying it has been affected by the prevailing difficult market conditions and costs of exiting.

 

Despite the grim postings, the group announced an increase of assets under management from $310 billion to $327 billion.

 

"Difficult market conditions impacted the performance of Macquarie's capital markets facing businesses. Macquarie Securities Group experienced a fall in cash and derivatives revenues and exited a number of underperforming businesses globally, recording a loss for the year. Macquarie Capital reported significantly lower results due to low levels of client activity across mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity capital markets (ECM),” Mr Moore said.

 

Macquarie’s full statement can be found here