The parent, Heartland New Zealand (HNZ), posted an after-tax profit of $11 million for the same period, the difference being earnings from HNZ's recently acquired home equity release businesses, which is at present held outside the banking subsidiary.
Heartland had spent $87 million in cash and shares for Sentinel - the Seniors Money International home equity release firm.
Earlier this year, Heartland was unsuccessful in a hostile takeover attempt for the more-than-40-year-old Dunedin company Motor Trade Finance (MTF), but the bid was rejected. Both have large interests in the car finance market.
HNZ managing director Jeff Greenslade was contacted and said HNZ was still interested in acquisitions, primarily in household, rural and business sectors, but ''there's not much out there at the moment''.
Mr Greenslade was asked whether MTF was still on HNZ's radar as a potential acquisition.
''MTF are not available for further discussions. That's out, for the time being,'' he said.
HNZ had plenty of cash, as per regulatory requirements, and capital for any acquisitions.
And if a potential acquisition was larger than cash and capital at hand, HNZ had the opportunity to go back to the market, Mr Greenslade said.
During the year, the Standard and Poor's credit rating on Heartland Bank was raised to BBB, with a negative outlook; then rating agency Fitch also raised its credit rating to BBB, with a stable outlook.
In mid-July, MTF completed a $200 million issue of medium-term notes. The original offer of $150 million was heavily oversubscribed, resulting in the offer being increased to the $200 million Valiant Trust.
The notes were backed by motor vehicle receivables originated by MTF dealers and franchises, who were MTF shareholders, and had an aggregate expected term of up to four years.
