HSBC shares fall on 62% profits plunge

Fall larger than analysts' expectations

Natalie Kenway
clock • 2 min read

Shares in HSBC have fallen almost 5% in early trading after the bank revealed sharper-than-expected fall of 62% in annual profits for 2016.

The group said pre-tax profit for the year was down to $7.1bn, lower than the $18.9bn reported a year earlier, as a result of a number of one-off charges including the sale of its operations in Brazil as well as a $3.2bn impairment of goodwill to its private banking unit in Europe.

This was less than half than the $14.4bn profit expected by analysts and was also blamed on slowing economic growth in Hong Kong and the UK for impacting profits.

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Shares were down 4.5% at 8am to 680p, after climbing steadily with the rest of the banking sector since the UK's vote to leave the European Union.

Chairman Douglas Flint said its performance had been "broadly satisfactory" amid the "volatile financial conditions" such as the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's win in the US election.

"These foreshadowed changes to the established geopolitical and economic relationships that have defined interactions within developed economies and between them and the rest of the world," Flint said.

"The uncertainties created by such changes temporarily influenced investment activity and contributed to volatile financial market conditions."

However, the bank also had concerns on 2017 as Flint said "outcome of the US election has added to concerns about a rise in protectionism".

"This has been accentuated in many parts of the world by technological change and income inequality."

HSBC also announced it would buy back an additional $1bn of its shares, adding to $2.5bn of repurchases it made in 2016. However, this was also lower than analysts' expectations, with Deutsche Bank and UBS predicting that HSBC would buy back $2.5bn to $3bn of its shares in 2017, according to the FT.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown commented: "HSBC's share price has travelled a long way in the last year, while the earnings of the company have actually taken a step back. The bank is a shining example of how the decline in sterling has bumped up the price of some of the UK's largest companies, without much progress in underlying profits.

"HSBC is the biggest single stock in the FTSE 100, and so millions of people across the UK will have a stake in the bank through their pension or their ISA. The reality is that for these investors the effect of currency translation is real and tangible. Weaker sterling has significantly lifted the value of their shareholding, and the dividends they receive in pounds and pence, and as we know it's best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Despite an underwhelming set of full year results, HSBC is making progress in de-risking and restructuring, and ultimately the bank's focus on the far east could be its trump card if the Chinese economy starts to fire on all cylinders."

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