Macquarie Group suffered from a 24 percent drop in its net profits from 1 year ago.  The firm earned a AUD 305 million (USD 326 million) net profit and it will likely come below the year ago result. Macquarie has opened an office at Blue Sky Tower and Macquarie Capital is one of the four investment banks selected as managers of the Tavan Tolgoi East Tsankhi initial public offering (IPO) due for 2012.

“The big story is the global environment,” said Chief Financial Officer Greg Ward. “We're not immune from that of course.”

The group's return on equity for the half was 5.7 percent, 7.4 percent less than its first half a year ago and its lowest level on record since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 1996,

Richard Sheppard, 62, is retiring in December from being deputy managing director of the group and chief executive of Macquarie Bank, the banking and finance division of the overall group. Ward will leave his current position to take up his roles. Tim Bishop, head of the U.S. business, is moving back to Australia to run Macquarie Capital.

The group has cut 468 employees from a year ago. Ward didn't specify whether more jobs could go but he said management would continue to be vigilant about costs. The group's first half result failed to meet analysts’ expectations for earnings of AUD 320.6 million.