Monday 3 August 2015

First-half profits at HSBC jump 10% on strong Asian performance

Otmane El Rhazi from Mindful Money » Shares.

Profits at HSBC jumped 10% in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period last year on the back of a strong performance in Asia.

On Monday Europe’s biggest bank reported that pre-tax profit was $13.6bn (£8.7bn) in the first six months of 2015, up almost $1.3bn compared with the same period last year.

According to Reuters, the results were well ahead of analysts’ average forecast of $12.5bn.

HSBC also announced it had entered into an agreement to sell its entire business in Brazil. The bank, which presently boasts some 48m customers serviced by more than 268,000 employees, is in the midst of a cost-cutting exercise and recently said it would axing around 8,000 UK jobs. It also wants to offload it operation in Turkey.

In a statement, HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said: “Our performance in the first half of 2015 demonstrated the underlying strength of our business. In June we announced a series of strategic actions to capture the value of our international network in a much-changed world.

“These actions are designed to maximise revenue, significantly reduce our operating expenses and meet our obligations regarding the structure of the Group. We are executing these plans and have significant momentum moving into the second half of the year.”

The business has upped the amount it has set to cover costs from various regulatory probes to $1.3bn from $550m.

Following the bank’s market update, its shares jumped 1% of by 6.69p to 586.6p in early trading.

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