The ill-effects of the global credit crisis on high-profile Australian companies was highlighted on Friday when Allco Finance and Centro Properties announced two of the largest annual losses in Australian corporate history.

Allco, the asset manager that was part of the consortium that last year failed in an attempt to buy Qantas, reported a A$1.74bn ($1.49bn) net loss for the year to June 30 after taking impairment charges on its investments of A$1.43bn.