HSBC Q1 profits almost double after restructuring

LONDON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- London-headquartered bank HSBC announced on Tuesday that its pre-tax profits almost doubled to reach 8.4 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year thanks to its efforts in restructuring and reducing costs.

According to first quarter results, pre-tax profits increased 95 percent compared with 4.3 billion U.S. dollars in the same period last year, beating previous market estimates. The bank's net profits more than doubled to 6.35 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, aided by a big fall in debts.

Earnings after taxation surged 146 percent in the three months to the end of March, from 2.58 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, the HSBC said.

It said in a statement that it continued to implement strategies to grow, simplify and restructure, announcing nine transactions to dispose of or close businesses since the start of 2013, making the total 52 since the start of 2011.

"We have had a good start to the year, with growth in reported and underlying profit before tax," said chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who took the office in early 2011.

He added: "While continuing uncertainty in the global economy has created a relatively muted environment for revenue growth, we have increased revenue in key areas including residential mortgages and commercial banking in both our home markets of Hong Kong and Britain."

"Loan impairment charges were lower in every region, notably in North America," he said, adding that the group was also lifted by its "continued focus on cost management."

Bad debts dropped 44 percent to 1.17 billion U.S. dollars compared with 2.09 billion U.S. dollars last time around.

HSBC's share price on the London Stock Exchange gained about 3 percent after announcement of the results, contributing the most points to a rise in the FTSE 100 index.

The bank axed more than 37,000 jobs since the end of 2010 as part of restructuring. The HSBC Group, Europe's biggest bank by market value, has 6,600 offices in over 80 countries and regions, and its assets were at 2,681 billion U.S. dollars at the end of March of 2013.

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