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HSBC profit beats estimates as bank announces stock buyback

Bloomberg Published on Mon, Jul 31, 2017 / 7:43 PM GMT+8

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(July 31): HSBC Holdings Plc’s second-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates as outgoing Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver boosted revenue while also trimming costs, and the lender said it will spend up to US$2 billion ($2.7 billion) buying back stock.

Adjusted pretax profit rose 13% to US$6 billion from a year earlier, Europe’s largest bank said in a filing Monday. Profit at its three biggest units jumped, led by a 31% gain in global banking and markets. The bank’s stock jumped 2.9% 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.”