Heartland Bank's CEO says that, after the first quarter of its 2013/14 financial year, the bank's on track to deliver its forecast five-fold increase in annual profit and he has his eyes open for acquisitions.
At the bank's annual meeting on Friday afternoon, CEO Jeff Greenslade said net profit after tax for the September quarter was $8.5 million, consistent with June's forecast for annual profit of between $34 million and $37 million for the year to June 30, 2014.
He also said Heartland's cost to income ratio dropped to 54% in the September quarter from 60% in the June year.
Greenslade added that, since Heartland brought its troubled non-core property portfolio in-house on July 1, it has realised nearly a quarter of the loans it said in June would be exited within 12 to 18 months.
These loans, are in Heartland's so-called "accelerate" bucket, which it says comprises the majority of the non-core portfolio that was valued at $107.4 million at June 30.
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