CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australian investment bank Macquarie Group (MQBKY.PK, MQG.AX) said Monday that it expects profit in fiscal 2012 to decline around 25 pecrent from the prior year, amid continued difficult trading conditions for Macquarie Securities and Macquarie Capital in many markets. The company still plans a share buyback. The company had said in October last that it expects fiscal 2012 results to be lower than last year, if market conditions remain unchanged for the remainder of the second half of the financial year. It also announced the buyback plan then. Macquarie Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Moore said today: 'Global economic uncertainty has deepened, resulting in substantially lower levels of client activity in many markets...Macquarie Securities Group and Macquarie Capital, were severely impacted by macroeconomic conditions with December quarter net profit contributions from both significantly down on pcp and the prior period.' Macquarie Securities' operating income is anticipated to fall 35 percent year-over-year in fiscal 2012. Macquarie Capital's operating income in fiscal 2012 is expected to drop 30 pecent from last year. The company expects operating expenses in fiscal 2012 for the annuity-style businesses to be down 5 percent and those for the capital markets facing businesses to decline 10 percent. Reported capital surplus at December 2011 was $A3.5 billion, unchanged from September 2011. Measured on a proforma basis under Harmonised Basel III, capital surplus is expected to be around $A3.7 billion at March 31, measured at current Tier 1 requirements of 7 percent. Further, Macquarie said the capital surplus is expected to allow the company to commence a share buyback of up to 10 percent of ordinary shares in the first half of fiscal 2013. The stock is falling 1.53 percent on the ASX at $25.70 on a volume of 5.03 million shares.
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