Profits alive and well for UK lender
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The Associated Press
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 12, 2009 00:00
LONDON - Banking group HSBC Holdings said yesterday that it has made a "resilient" start to 2009 and that its revenues have recovered strongly from the last quarter of 2008 when business was hit hard by the financial crisis.
In its first-quarter trading update, HSBC said its underlying pre-tax profits were "well ahead" of the same period in 2008, largely because of gains it made on the valuation of its debts.
However, excluding those debts, HSBC said profits were lower but still significantly higher than in the fourth quarter of 2008.HSBC's chief executive Michael Geoghegan said the company's operating performance in the first quarter was encouraging, boosted by record results from its global banking and markets divisions.
He said the recent rights issue which raised $17.8 billion means it is well-positioned to "ride out the uncertainty ahead, and to take advantage of opportunities to grow." HSBC did not give an exact figure for the total it has set aside to cover bad debts. "Loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions were higher than in Q1 2008, but lower than in Q4 2008 on both an underlying and a reported basis," HSBC said.
However, excluding those debts, HSBC said profits were lower but still significantly higher than in the fourth quarter of 2008.HSBC's chief executive Michael Geoghegan said the company's operating performance in the first quarter was encouraging, boosted by record results from its global banking and markets divisions.
He said the recent rights issue which raised $17.8 billion means it is well-positioned to "ride out the uncertainty ahead, and to take advantage of opportunities to grow." HSBC did not give an exact figure for the total it has set aside to cover bad debts. "Loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions were higher than in Q1 2008, but lower than in Q4 2008 on both an underlying and a reported basis," HSBC said.