Wide Bay Australia is looking to lift the sales efforts of its branch network, as new levels of lending only kept pace with asset run-off over the last half. However, this was at least an improvement on the first half of the financial year, when receivables declined."The branch network basically went to sleep on us in 2011, but it picked up in the last six months," the managing director, Ron Hancock, said yesterday.He said Wide Bay remained cautious about sourcing loans from brokers, though it does do so for some of its lending, 20 per cent of which is outside of Queensland.Net profit for Wide Bay fell 16 per cent to $19 million over the year. The firm's captive mortgage insurer, Mortgage Risk Management, accounted for only $500,000 in profit, down from $23 million last year.Most of the insurance business has been shifted to QBE. This will allow Wide Bay Australia to bolster its capital base by around $12 million, though the capital release is subject to actuarial review.The final dividend will be 25 cents, up from 22.5 cents at the half year but still down from the 30 cents paid from the profit each half last year. The firm dropped its dividend reinvestment plan given the addition to capital from the insurance captive.Wide Bay is still to announce a succession plan for its managing director, Ron Hancock, who remains in the job 48 years after founding the business, as a complement to his then Bundaberg accounting practice.Hancock said yesterday that the board would make an announcement "at the appropriate time".