sydney macquarie group ltds commodity markets business may ease after making a strong contribution to the companys record profit last year chief executive shemara wikramanayake said the australian companys commodities and global markets unit which houses commodity markets saw its net profit contribution climb 50 for the 12 months through march to 391 billion australian dollars us277 billion increased revenue from commodity markets spurred by higher client hedging and trading activity as a result of volatility in commodity prices was a key driver of this result macquarie said in regulatory filing on friday ms wikramanayake told the wall street journal on friday that she expected commodity markets to be significantly down because it had a very strong year in the last financial year fy 2022 cgms other businesses asset finance and financial markets should however remain generally consistent she said ms wikramanayake noted that asset finance had a big oneoff gain of about a450 million last year which wont be repeated while commodity markets makes up 65 of cgms business ms wikramanayake told media after issuing its results that it is an incredibly diversified business unit with its activities including lending financing activities transportation and storage adding that it was also diversified across regions cgms north american power and gas made a big contribution because of structural themes happening in that market but it varies a lot which regions contribute the most to cgm she said i dont think you can say that north america is the biggest region every year it just happens to be this year macquarie on thursday said that its annual profit was 56 higher at a record a471 billion as the war in ukraine disrupted energy markets and sent oil prices surging ms wikramanayake told analysts after issuing its results that the volatility in european gas had come off a little but in commodities generally were facing a challenging period macquarie which has a reputation among analysts for conservative forecasts didnt provide specific guidance but ms wikramanayake said the company remains wellpositioned to deliver superior performance in the medium term