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HSBC shares fall even as 2017 profits soar 141pc; failure to buy back shares stuns investors

John Flint, who takes over as group CEO from Stuart Gulliver from Wednesday, will layout his plans for the bank later this year

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A fisheye view inside HSBC’s offices in Hong Kong. The bank’s stock lower after its announced its full-year results for 2017. Photo: Reuters

HSBC shares closed down 3.11 per cent in Hong Kong on Tuesday, group chief executive Stuart Gulliver’s last day in his job, as investors responded negatively to the bank’s full-year results.

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In the fourth quarter of 2017, HSBC’s pre-tax profit was US$3.58 billion, 8 per cent below the consensus estimate, according to investment bank Jefferies, as the bank’s two large European borrowers ran into difficulties.

For 2017 as a whole, HSBC’s pre-tax profit was US$21 billion, 11 per cent higher than the equivalent figure last year, once both figures were adjusted to remove one off items.

HSBC also surprised investors by not buying back a further tranche of its own shares because of technical regulatory issues.

Without the adjustments for one off items, the bank’s profits rose by 141 per cent, thanks to a number of one off expenses booked in 2016’s figures.
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More than three quarters of HSBC’s 2017 profits was driven by its “pivot to Asia”, the bank said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, as it looks to move back to its origins.

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