Investment bank Macquarie posts second-highest profit

Its half-year profit was $3.2 billion, a record half-year result and nearly double that from a year ago.

"Shemara, congratulations on a cracking result," veteran banking analyst Brian Johnson, of MST Financial, told Macquarie chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake during a briefing on Friday.

Ms Wikramanayake said each of Macquarie's four businesses had used its specialist expertise to navigate the current environment and identify opportunities for long-term growth.

Macquarie's commodities and global markets division grew the most, with its profit climbing 49 per cent to $4.2 billion, following the sale of its British smart meter asset provider OnStream.

Macquarie Capital contributed a net profit of $1.5 billion, up 43 per cent from a year ago, reflecting higher income from equity investments, mergers and acquisitions fees.

Macquarie Asset Management's net profit was up 27 per cent to $2.6 billion, driven by higher performance fees, while Macquarie's banking and financial services division's contribution rose 17 per cent to $1.6 billion.

Macquarie said it would return half of its half-year profit to shareholders, paying an second-half dividend of $4.20 per share.

That takes its dividends for the year to $7 per share, up from $6.50 per share a year ago.

Macquarie also released its annual and sustainability reports on Friday, which activist group Market Forces said showed it had increased funding for fossil fuel projects.

"Macquarie's disclosures reveal it has tripled finance for oil and gas in the past four years, confirming it's Australia's 'drill baby drill' bank, while its big four peers have all reduced funding for fossil fuels," the group's banks analyst, Morgan Pickett, said.

The investment bank had just backed Whitehaven Coal's mine expansion plans, and bankrolled gas fracking projects in Australia's Beetaloo Basin south of Darwin, Mr Pickett said.

Close to noon on Friday, Macquarie Group shares were down 0.9 per cent to $239.80.