National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) is one of Australia’s “big four” banks, with a focus on regional banking, wealth management operations, international capital markets and institutional banking business. Brands within Australia include NAB and MLC, and the group is represented in New Zealand by Bank of New Zealand. In the UK the brands are Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank.

Financials stock, National Australia Bank released its first quarter trading update which showed 1Q FY12 earnings of approximately $1.4 billion, 8% higher than the previous corresponding period.

The bank said that revenue was driven by wholesale banking and to a lesser extent, MLC and NAB wealth.

NAB also revealed that it will undertake a strategic review of its UK operations, with a view to reposition the arm to deal with the current economic situation in the region.

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Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX:LEI) offers a variety of project development and contracting services to public and private sector clients in the Asia-Pacific region. Leighton is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and is a member of the S&P/ASX 200.

Leighton Holdings today lifted its half-year profit guidance, citing improved earnings from its Asia and Australian operations.

The company expects underling profit is expected to be $270 million after tax for the final six months up from the previous guidance of $250 million.

LEI which is due to report the first-half year results on February 13^th, reaffirmed full year underlying profit of between $600 million and $650 million after tax.

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National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) is one of Australia’s “big four” banks, with a focus on regional banking, wealth management operations, international capital markets and institutional banking business. Brands within Australia include NAB and MLC, and the group is represented in New Zealand by Bank of New Zealand. In the UK the brands are Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank.

Financials Stock NAB held its AGM today, where it stated it expects a challenging 2012 as it faces a combination of volatile markets and subdued consumer and business sentiment.

CEO Mr Cameron Clyne said the group was committed to its strategic agenda, which drove a solid performance in 2011.

Mr Clyne also flagged increasing offshore funding costs which were placing further pressure on the bank’s margins.

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Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) is Australia’s oldest bank operating a significant banking franchise in Australia and New Zealand.  WBC is considered an ASX Blue Chip Share. The company has balanced exposures to retail, corporate and institutional sectors.

Westpac has been one of the more acquisitive banks domestically with successful takeovers of Bank of Melbourne and Challenge Bank and Trust Bank in New Zealand. More recently WBC has aggressively expanded its wealth management activities with the acquisition of Rothschild Australia Asset Management, BT Funds Management and Hastings Funds Management.

Westpac today held their AGM where it warned that the European debt crisis will continue to impact the price and possibly the availably of funding to Australia’s banking sector.

CEO Mrs Gail Kelly said the outlook for the global economic outlook remained mixed with Australia not immune to these headwinds, with growth slowing and consumer and business spending cautious.

Mrs Kelly also hinted that WBC may not pass on future interest rate cuts to borrowers in full, citing the impact of higher funding costs on interest rate margins.

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Lend Lease Corporation (ASX:LLC) is an international group involved in project design, construction and maintenance, property development and property funds management.

LLC operates in over 40 countries, with a significant presence in Australia, Asia, Europe, and the USA.  Lend Lease is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and is a member of the ASX 200.

LLC today announced the sale of its 75% interest in the Chelmsford Meadow Unit Trust for approximately A$65 million.

The sale of the asset to was to Legal & General property.

CEO & Managing Director Steve McCann, said that the proceeds will be used to develop more significant projects that are currently in the pipeline.

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Lend Lease Corporation (ASX:LLC) is an international group involved in project design, construction and maintenance, property development and property funds management. LLC operates in over 40 countries, with a significant presence in Australia, Asia, Europe, USA and is listed on the Australian Stock Market.

Today Lend Lease’s CEO Steve McCann told the company’s AGM that the outlook for Australia across most of the company’s key sectors remains positive, but weak sentiment in overseas market could impact the business.

Mr McCann did believe that LLC is well placed to deliver growth for security-holders.

Lend Lease also outlined an additional $1.2 billion in infrastructure work in the short term.

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Westfield Group (ASX:WDC)  is the largest retail property group in the world by equity market capitalisation. It has investment interests in 126 shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Westfield, which is among the blue chip stocks, has released its 3^rd quarter operating update for the nine months to 30 September 2011.

WDC reaffirmed its full year earnings forecast, saying it is seeing growth in all of its markets.

Current full year forecast for distribution per security is 48.4 cents, whilst operational segment earnings are expected to be 74.6 cents per security.

Westfield did outline their new development projects for the next few years with $1.25 Billion to be spent in 2012 and a further $1.5 Billion in 2013.

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Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG) is one of the largest general insurers in Australia and New Zealand, providing personal and commercial insurance policies under the brands NRMA Insurance, SGIO, SGIC, CGU, Swann Insurance, State Insurance and NZI.

IAG has been among the shares to sell over the past 12 months due to the natural disasters in Australia and New Zealand.

Today IAG reaffirmed its FY12 insurance margin of 10% – 12%, saying it has been encouraged by the gross written premium growth thus far.

Gross written premium was expected to grow 6% – 9% in the FY12.

The group said it was well capitalised and that it would undertake a NZ$150 million bond offering for general corporate purposes.

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Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) was established way back in 1874 and operates mainly in its home state of Queensland, with operations covering retail financial services and business banking.

It has been one of the shares to sell in recent times due to the macroeconomic headwinds plaguing the financial sector.

Today BOQ reported an FY11 net profit of $158.7 million, down 13% on-year.  The result was impacted by higher bad debts and subdued credit growth.

Underlying profit rose 18% on-year to $447.4 million, helped by a disciplined expense control.  BOQ’s cost-to-income ratio fell 1% to 44.5%.

The group was hit by funding cost pressures in the 2H, but still grew its full year net interest margin by 5 basis points to 1.65%.

BOQ noted FY12 would be turnaround year for the group and that it was confident in the underlyin earnings momentum.

A final dividend of 28 cents was declared.

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Centro Retail (ASX:CER) has decided to purchase Centro Properties Group (ASX:CNP) as it looks to consolidate its assets.

The new group will be called Centro Retail Australia, and is forecast to deliver an FY12 distribution yield of approximately 5%.

CER said the consolidated entity is likely to have the size and scale to enhance long-term value and moderate gearing levels.

The takeover announcement has seen CNP rocket almost 60% so far today, making it one the top performers in the stock market.

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