Macquarie Maintains Forecast for ‘Slight’ Drop in Profit

(Bloomberg) -- Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s largest investment bank, maintained its forecast that earnings will decline slightly this year.

Profit in the first quarter of the fiscal year was “broadly in line” with a year earlier, the Sydney-based company said in a statement Thursday.

The bank continues to expect this year’s result to be slightly down on last year’s record A$2.98 billion ($2.1 billion) profit, it said. Analysts estimate Macquarie will post earnings of A$2.96 billion this fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Macquarie shares fell as much as 0.3% in early Sydney trading, trimming this year’s gain to 19%.

Macquarie’s market-facing businesses “benefited from strong market conditions in FY19 which continued into the first quarter, however we do not expect these conditions to continue through the remainder of” this year, the bank said in a presentation to investors.

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