The shares of the banking and financial giant, HSBC Holdings, finished in the negative territory on Tuesday, suffering a steep decline that weighed in on the FTSE 100, as investors were not satisfied with some major points of the company’s fourth quarter earnings report.
For the past three months, the largest bank in Great Britain tallied a profit of $3.58 billion excluding the tax, 8% lower compared to the expectations of analysts, while its return on equity failed to impress investors as it came in 10% lower than the consensus estimates.
HSBC shares were hurt by the figures and fell down more than 4% in yesterday’s session to close at 727.50 pounds, which steered the FTSE 100 futures to its second straight slide on a 0.01% decline at 7 246.77.
For the whole year, the company’s profit rose to an oozing 141% to $21 billion but even though the figures were resounding, investors were shaking their heads due to the company’s refusal to buy-back its shares due to technical regulatory issues.
An expert from Shore Capital noted that the returns given by the bank should further improve so that it share price will remain high.
Meanwhile, Asia emerged as the number one driver of the company’s growth as the region contributed 15% increase in HSBC’s profit at $25.9, with Hong Kong leading the shares on 27% growth.