Australia's Macquarie profit slips to three-year low on asset sale pause

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Australia's biggest investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd adorns the main entrance to their Sydney office headquarters in Australia, October 28, 2016. Picture taken October 28, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Macquarie Group on Friday reported its lowest half-year profit in three years as costs rose and it paused green asset sales, but it said its performance would pick up in the second half and it had enough excess capital to buy back shares.

The first-half results were a rare miss for the Australian firm, which prides itself on a global breadth stretching from retail banking to offshore wind and commodity trading. The Sydney-based financial conglomerate has not had a steeper first-half profit drop in more than a decade.