Quote from SMH today
"National Australia Bank's traditional strength in business banking has failed to offset a drop in the group's half-year statutory profits which have slid by a fifth to $2.1 billion due to the group's exposure to volatile financial trading factors.
While NAB's cash earnings – the banking industry's preferred measure of profit which excludes such volatility – rose by 21 per cent to $2.2 billion – the figure directly attributable to shareholders dropped by the same percentage because of the need to account for the trading swings. The cash result was in line with analysts' forecasts"
http://www.smh.com.au/business/nab-stingy-with-dividend-as-profit-drops-20100506-ub86.html
Could someone please explain in very simple terms what this means.
What they saying is NAB is involve in derivatives and risky financial instruments that has a drop in earning but they don't earn enough in business lending to offset the big drop
I don't have NAB shares so I don't know for sure but that my interpretation of it ....
check their books and financial statement to be sure..