NAB to exit US lender
NATIONAL Australia Bank has moved to sell down its remaining stake in its former US subsidiary Great Western Bancorp.
The bank has notified US regulators that it plans to carry out another offering of its holding in Great Western, which was floated late last year.
NAB holds 28.5 per cent of the regional lender, having sold down the rest of its holding in the float and at a previous offering in May.
The move is part of chief executive Andrew Thorburn’s efforts to cast off underperforming international businesses to focus on NAB’s core Australian and New Zealand operations. JEWELLERY retailer Michael Hill International has lifted full-year sales despite a decline in its biggest market, Australia.
The group announced yesterday it had chalked up a 3.4 per cent sales rise as gains in New Zealand, Canada and the US offset a drop in turnover here.
Sales rose to $495.6 mil- lion in the year to June, from $479.3 million a year earlier.
The tally does not include sales from the retailer’s new Emma & Roe stores.
Michael Hill has previously warned weakness in Australia is likely to weigh on its full-year earnings, which are scheduled for release on August 14.
Australia’s
economic growth has slowed as prices for commodity exports, such as iron ore, have dropped, hitting consumer confidence.
Australian sales, which account for 59 per cent of sales, dropped 1.4 per cent over the year, and by 2.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis, stripping out the impact of stores that have opened or closed.
The Brisbane-based com- pany, which is listed on the New Zealand stock exchange, did not give a forecast for full-year earnings.
It opened 12 Michael Hill stores during the year, and closed two, taking the total to 288 stores, and added two stores in the Emma & Roe chain, which sells charms.
There are now eight Emma & Roe stores.
In the year to June, New Zealand sales rose 6.7 per cent to $106.2 million, or 7.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
In Canada, sales jumped 15 per cent to $81.3 million, or 3.1 per cent like-for-like.
In the US, sales increased 25 per cent to $13.6 million, or by 14 per cent on a samestore basis.