HSBC Holdings’ second-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates as outgoing chief executive Stuart Gulliver boosted revenue while also trimming costs, and the lender said it will spend up to US$2 billion buying back stock.
Adjusted pretax profit rose 13 per cent to $6bn from a year earlier, Europe’s largest bank said in a filing Monday. Profit at its three biggest units jumped, led by a 31 per cent gain in global banking and markets. The bank’s stock jumped 2.9 per cent in Hong Kong to the highest intraday level since November 2014.
“We’ve got revenues heading in the right direction across all our major businesses and regions,” HSBC’s Finance Director Iain Mackay said in a phone interview with Bloomberg Television’s Manus Cranny. “Good credit control and good cost control and a very strong capital position.”
The new buybacks, to be completed by December, will add to the $3.5bn of repurchases since last year that have helped push the lender’s stock up more than 50 per cent in the past 12 months. Mr Gulliver’s attempt to turn around the bank in the wake of scandals and financial fines has been stymied by a failure to boost revenue. Rising interest rates around the world are now making that task easier.
Mr Mackay has previously said as much as $8bn could be repatriated from its US operations and a portion of this would be allocated to buybacks. HSBC’s North American unit passed a Federal Reserve stress test in June, clearing the way for more than $3bn of capital to be returned to shareholders, analysts said at the time.
The firm’s pretax profit exceeded the $5.5bn average estimate of five analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue in the quarter rose 4 per cent to $13.2bn, also beating analyst forecasts.
“We believe the key market focus will be on the improved revenue and capital formation trends,” Goldman Sachs Group analysts wrote in a note. The brokerage raised its 2017-2020 earnings per share estimates by 4 per cent to 5 per cent.
“We have had an excellent first half of 2017,” Mr Gulliver said in the statement. “We remain on track to complete the majority of our strategic actions by the end of the year.”
The chief executive is seeking to jump-start growth after five years of declining revenues and several costly misconduct scandals. He has spent most of his tenure attempting to improve profitability by shrinking HSBC’s vast global network, exiting almost 100 businesses and 18 countries.
The bank’s incoming chairman Mark Tucker, who succeeds Douglas Flint in October, is already considering internal and external candidates to replace Mr Gulliver, who is due to retire next year, a person familiar with the matter said earlier this month.
*Bloomberg
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Company%20profile
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If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
Smart words at Make Smart Cool
Make Smart Cool is not your usual festival. Dubbed “edutainment” by organisers Najahi Events, Make Smart Cool aims to inspire its youthful target audience through a mix of interactive presentation by social media influencers and a concert finale featuring Example with DJ Wire. Here are some of the speakers sharing their inspiration and experiences on the night.
Prince Ea
With his social media videos accumulating more half a billion views, the American motivational speaker is hot on the college circuit in the US, with talks that focus on the many ways to generate passion and motivation when it comes to learning.
Khalid Al Ameri
The Emirati columnist and presenter is much loved by local youth, with writings and presentations about education, entrepreneurship and family balance. His lectures on career and personal development are sought after by the education and business sector.
Ben Ouattara
Born to an Ivorian father and German mother, the Dubai-based fitness instructor and motivational speaker is all about conquering fears and insecurities. His talk focuses on the need to gain emotional and physical fitness when facing life’s challenges. As well managing his film production company, Ouattara is one of the official ambassadors of Dubai Expo2020.
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS
6.30pm: Handicap (rated 95-108) US$125,000 2000m (Dirt).
Winner: Don’t Give Up, Gerald Mosse (jockey), Saeed bin Suroor (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap (95 ) $160,000 2810m (Turf).
Winner: Los Barbados, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.40pm: Handicap (80-89) $60,000 1600m (D).
Winner: Claim The Roses, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (Div-1) Conditions $100,000 1,400m (D)
Winner: Gold Town, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
8.50pm: Cape Verdi Group 2 $200,000 1600m (T).
Winner: Promising Run, Patrick Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.25pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Conditions $100,000 1,400m (D).
Winner: El Chapo, Luke Morris, Fawzi Nass.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
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MATCH INFO
First Test at Barbados
West Indies won by 381 runs
Second Test at Antigua
West Indies won by 10 wickets
Third Test at St Lucia
February 9-13
The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 592bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Price: Dh980,000
On sale: now
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions