HSBC's first half 2017 pre-tax profit rises 5 per cent, announces USD 2 billion stock buyback

Great Britain's banking giant HSBC announced a USD 2 billion share buy-back in 2017 after the entity delivered healthy financial results in first half of the year.

HSBC’s adjusted pre-tax profit for the period was USD 12 billion , up 12 per cent and beating analysts’ consensus. The stock buyback plan for 2017 shall raise the amount of total stock it has pledged to buy over the past year to $5.5bn.

Earnings per share of 35 cents also beat forecasts. Reported pre-tax profits for the first half of the year hit $10.2bn, an increase of 5 per cent on the same period last year. Reported revenues were down 11 per cent at $26.2bn.

Outgoing HSBC chairman Douglas Flint attributed the performance to a number of factors: “Markets-based revenues benefited from market share advances, commercial banking customer activity was robust, wealth management and insurance revenues were notably stronger in Hong Kong, and credit experience globally remained remarkably sound.”

HSBC’s share buy-back plans have been one of the focuses for analysts watching the bank. The total buy-back figure of $5.5bn comes in above many analysts’ original expectations.

The returns in the first half of the year for Europe’s biggest bank show major improvements from its interim report a year ago, in which it said pre-tax profits in the second quarter had fallen 45 per cent.