(evening standard)
Banking giant HSBC announced today that its profits rose 90% to $5.2 billion (£4.3 billion) over the last three months of 2022.
Despite the improvement, full-year profit fell $1.4 billion (£1.2 billion) to $17.5 billion (£14.6 billion) on the sale of its retail banking business in France.
Meanwhile, public finances posted a larger-than-expected £5.4 billion surplus in January, after a record £21.9 billion in self-assessed income tax receipts for the month.
Antofagasta cuts dividend as earnings for 2022 fall by more than a quarter
07:58, Michael Jaeger
Antofagasta, the FTSE-100 copper miner, revealed the impact of rising inflation and higher input prices as it reported a more than a quarter fall in 2022 pre-tax profit to $2.56 billion ($2.13 billion). ) reported.
It has trimmed its payout to investors, cutting its dividend by almost 60% to $0.597 per share.
As operating expenses rose 10%, annual revenue fell 22% to $5.9 billion. Operating costs increased by 10% “mainly due to inflation and higher input prices”.
The Chilean company also produces gold and molybdenum, an element used in structural steel. Group production in 2023 is expected to be 670-710,000 tonnes of copper, 220-240,000 ounces of gold and 10-11,500 tonnes of molybdenum.
BHP cuts dividend, boss sees prospects optimistic
07:58, Graeme Evans
Mining giant BHP today announced a 27% fall in half-year profits to $10.8 billion (£9 billion) on the back of a $4.8 billion (£4 billion) drop in sales that caused by lower iron ore and copper prices.
The interim dividend of 90 cents a share, or $4.6 billion (£3.8 billion), represented a 40% cut from last year’s payment.
Chief Executive Mike Henry said he remains positive on the demand outlook for the second half and fiscal 2024.
He added: “We expect domestic demand in China and India to provide a stabilizing counterbalance to the ongoing slowdown in global trade and economies in the US, Japan and Europe.
The story goes on
“The long-term prospects for our commodities remain strong given population growth, rising living standards and the metals intensity of the energy transition, including commodities for steelmaking.”
Smith & Nephew reports a decline in operating profit
07:41, Michael Jaeger
Smith & Nephew, the FTSE 100 medical equipment maker, has reported a fall in operating profit after full-year sales forecasts hit $5.2 billion (£4.3 billion).
Operating profit fell to $450 million from $593 million, with the company in the midst of a “12-point plan” aimed at improving its performance over a two-year period. That was announced in November.
The 160-year-old company, which has been suffering from unfavorable currency moves, said it expects continued “macroeconomic headwinds in 2023,” though it said both revenue growth and margin expansion would be faster in the coming year.
Deepak Nath, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We have continued to outperform in the areas of Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management and while we are still early in our work in Orthopaedics, performance has improved here too.”
IHG launches $750 million buyback as fourth-quarter London trading beats pre-pandemic levels
07:40 , Daniel O’Boyle
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is set to buy back $750 million (£624.5 million) of its stock and raise its dividend after operating profit climbed to $828 million in 2022 and London topped trading at pre-pandemic levels.
The company recovered from the pandemic with revenue of $1.83 billion, although that was on the low end of analysts’ expectations. Of that, $1.45 billion came from the fees business, which consists of franchised hotels.
UK revenue per available room for the full year was 1% above pre-pandemic levels, with London revenue per room for the fourth quarter of the year 6% above Q4 2019.
Earnings per share nearly doubled to $2.82.
In addition to the $750 million buyback program, IHG also increased its year-end dividend by 10% to 94.8 cents a share. This is on top of a 43.9 cent dividend paid in October.
In total, those dividend payments are worth just under $250 million.
The group now operates 911,927 hotels, up 3.6% from this time last year, with an additional 80,388 hotels in the pipeline.
FTSE 100 down ahead of PMI releases
07:33 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index rose a modest 0.12% to close last night at a new record above 8,000, helped by resilience in the mining sector.
US markets were closed yesterday for President’s Day meaning traders lacked direction at the start of today’s session in London.
CMC Markets expects the FTSE 100 to open 10 points lower at 8004, with futures markets also pointing to a weak start for Wall Street amid uncertainty over an eventual peak in US interest rates.
The quiet start to the week is likely to be broken later by preliminary February economic activity PMI data, with updates due in the UK, euro-zone, Germany, France and the US.
Deutsche Bank said this morning: “Data momentum has been positive lately, but over the next few months it will be difficult to assess where we should be at this stage of the cycle.
“There have undoubtedly been major improvements from the fall in gas prices and the easing of financial conditions, but we have yet to see anything that even remotely penetrates the full delay in monetary policy to the US and Europe.”
Win and Divi Jump at HSBC
07:31 , Simon English
HSBC’s profits doubled last quarter thanks to rising interest rates around the world, which helped the company boost its dividend to a four-year high.
The bank is trying to fend off calls from Chinese shareholder Ping An to disband. Ping An wants a split between Asian and Western companies, which he says would add value.
HSBC made $5.2 billion (£4.3 billion) in profit for the last three months of 2022, up 90%.
However, for the full year, profit fell $1.4 billion to $17.5 billion.
The company is paying a dividend of 32 cents per share for 2022, the highest since 2018. Next year there will be a special dividend from the sale of its Canadian arm.
CEO Noel Quinn is hoping higher yields will stave off Ping An next year.
He said: “It was and is our judgment that alternative structural options would not add value to shareholders.”
HSBC has always argued that its global footprint lowers its borrowing costs
Chief Executive Noel Quinn was paid £5.6million, up from £4.9million. while outgoing CFO Ewen Stevenson received £4.7m, down from £3.6m.
Quinn added: “2022 was another good year for HSBC. We are on track to deliver higher returns in 2023.”
HSBC has continuously closed UK bank branches. In November, 114 more were closed.
European car sales up 10.7% in January
07:26 , Simon Hunt
New vehicle registrations in the EU, Britain and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) grew 10.7% to 911,064 units, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) said, a sign of a recovery for the continent’s automakers after registrations slowed in March had slowed down by 2022.
Passenger car registrations in 2022 fell by 4.6% year-on-year, ACEA said.
The government ran a £5.4 billion surplus in January, according to the ONS
07:12, Jonathan Prynn
Public finances showed a surplus of £5.4 billion in January, bolstered by record £21.9 billion of income tax revenue from self-assessment, partly helped by energy support schemes and a one-off customs payment to the EU has been settled.
The surplus was £7.1bn smaller than in January 2022 but £5bn larger than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast.
Summary: Yesterday’s top stories
06:49 , Simon Hunt
Good morning Here’s a recap of our top stories from yesterday:
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