Australia's Macquarie H1 profit down 21pct

SYDNEY, Oct 30 - Macquarie Group Ltd <MQG.AX>, Australia's largest investment bank, reported a 21 percent fall in first-half profit on Friday after one-off charges and a significantly lower completion rate for mergers and acquisitions.

Net profit for the six months ended Sept 30 fell to A$479 million ($438.6 million) from A$604 million for the year-ago period, the bank said on Friday.

The average forecast of seven analysts surveyed by Reuters was A$487 million, with forecasts ranging between A$399 million and A$533 million. Macquarie's own forecast was for profit of around A$436 million.

Macquarie said it had A$4.5 billion in excess capital and added that FY10 trading is likely to be characterised by fewer one-off items.

Macquarie is using the fallout from the global financial crisis to pick up cheap assets offshore, and has made four acquisitions in North America since May.

The bank will pay shareholders an interim dividend of 86 cents.

Macquarie shares closed at A$49.25 on Thursday, well above a 10-year low of A$15 in March. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 stock index <.AXJO> has risen 44 percent over the same period.