HSBC Misses Profit on Bad Loan Charges; Bouygues, M6 in Broadcastings Deal

Sarla Buch
20 Feb, 2018
New York City

HeidelbergCement revenue soared on higher segment sales volume. HSBC profit surged after strong performance in Asia but loan impairment charges were hit by the U.K. and South African borrowers. Bouygues and M6 signed broadcasting agreements.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – HeidelbergCement revenue soared on higher segment sales volume. HSBC profit surged after strong performance in Asia but loan impairment charges were hit by the U.K. and South African borrowers. Bouygues and M6 signed broadcasting agreements.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index jumped 63.79 or 0.9% to 7,298.88 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 89.03 or 0.7% to 12,434.76.

In Paris, CAC 40 index advanced 53.20 or 1% to 5,275.97.

HeidelbergCement AG gained 0.8% to €84.18 after Germany-based cement and building materials manufacturer said revenues in the year ending in December soared 13.8% from a year ago to €15.2 billion after sales volumes jumped 12% to 305 metric tons in cement and 11% to 47 metric tons in clinker segments.

The cement producer is scheduled to release its annual financial results including fiscal outlook on March 22.

HSBC Holdings Plc declined 3.5% to 734 pence after the banking and financial services provider reported revenues in the year ending in December jumped 7% from a year ago to $51.4 billion.

Net profit in the year surged to $11.9 billion from $3.4 billion in a year ago period and diluted earnings per share advanced to 48 cents from 7 cents.

The bank said pretax profit in the year surged 141% to $17.2 billion from a year ago and this was driven by strong performance in Asia with pre-tax profit soared 89.3% to $15.3 billion from a year ago.

HSBC said loan impairment charges were hit by two borrowers in the U.K. and South Africa that pushed the bank’s bad loan charges to $1.8 billion for the year which is more than expected.

However, impairment charges on loans and advances to customers as a percentage of average gross loans and advances to customers in the year fell to 0.22% from 0.39% in a year ago period.

Bouygues SA jumped 2.2% to €42.73 after France-based broadcasting services provider and domestic rival Metropole Television’s subsidiary M6-Metropole Television SA signed an agreement to supply all of the TV channels and on-demand services to Bouygues Telecom subscribers.

The financial details of the deal were not provided.