Reuters

(Reuters) - Australia's top supermarket chain, Woolworths, reported a 2.8% rise in third-quarter sales on Thursday, helped by a strong performance in the Australian Food division, its largest segment.

The grocer's total group sales was A$16.80 billion ($10.97 billion) for the March quarter, compared to A$16.34 billion a year ago and a Jefferies estimate of A$16.62 billion.

($1 = 1.5319 Australian dollars)

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) -DBS Group, Singapore's biggest bank, said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit rose 15% to a record high, driven by strong total income growth on the back of stable net interest margin and higher fee income and treasury customer sales.

DBS, the first Singapore lender to kickstart this earnings season, said January-March net profit rose to S$2.96 billion ($2.18 billion) from S$2.57 billion a year... (continue reading...)

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Shares of the company were up about 3.14% in extended trading.

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By Sameer Manekar

(Reuters) -National Australia Bank on Thursday posted a drop of about 13% in its first-half cash earnings as it grappled with high operating costs and cutthroat competition, but announced a share buyback program worth A$1.5 billion ($979 million).

NAB, the country's biggest business lender, reported a common equity tier 1 ratio, a closely watched measure of its spare cash, of 12.15% as of March-end, well above its target of... (continue reading...)