Heartland Group reports $37.6m profit, eyes Australian banking

Heartland Group has reported a net profit after tax of $37.6 million for the six months ending Dec 31 2023.

This represents a 22.7% decrease compared to the same period the previous year.

However, when excluding one-off or non-cash technical items, the underlying net profit after tax was $52.7m, a decrease of 3.6%.

Heartland's gross finance receivables saw a 4.2% increase, while its New Zealand and Australian reverse mortgages experienced continued strong growth of 18.7% and 20% respectively.

The company also noted solid growth in asset finance and motor finance.

Heartland highlighted its significant progress towards becoming a bank in Australia through the acquisition of Challenger Bank, which is nearing completion.

In addition, the completion of Heartland Bank's core banking system upgrade is expected to enable accelerated digitalisation and automation.