Announces up to 3 bln usd share buyback (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - London, 30 Apr - UK lender HSBC said its first quarter pretax profit fell by 0.2 billion dollars to 12.7 billion including a 4.8 billion gain following the completion of the disposal of the banking business in Canada, partly offset by a 1.1bn impairment following the classification of the Argentina business as held for sale.

Reported net profit fell by 0.2 billion dollars to 10.8 billion.

Revenue increased by 0.6 billion or 3% to 20.8 billion reflecting the impact of higher customer activity in Wealth products in Wealth and Personal Banking, and in Equities and Securities Financing in Global Banking and Markets (GBM), which in part mitigated a reduction in Foreign Exchange revenue, compared with a strong first quarter of 2023.

Net interest income fell by 0.3 billion to 8.7 billion primarily reflecting deposit migration. Non-interest income increased by 0.9 billion, reflecting a rise in trading income of 1.3 billion, mainly in GBM. Fee income grew by 5%. The net interest margin was 1.63% decreased by six basis points.

Expected credit losses rose 0.3 billion dollars to 0.7 billion primarily comprising stage 3 charges in both WPB and our wholesale businesses, while a year the charge reflected a favourable change in economic assumptions and lower stage 3 charges.

The board has approved a first interim dividend of 0.10 dollars per share and a special dividend of 0.21 dollars following the completion of the sale of the banking business in Canada. It also announced a share buy-back of up to 3 billion dollars, which we expect to have a 0.4 percentage point impact on the CET1 capital ratio. The buyback will begin shortly after the annual general meeting in May.

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(RADIOCOR) 30-04-24 08:14:14 (0141) 5 NNNN