Banking and financial services. Standard Chartered employs 38,000 people in 950 locations in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. Standard Chartered is one of the worlds most international banks, with employees representing 80 nationalities. It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises. Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services in trade finance, cash management, lending, securities services, foreign exchange, debt capital markets and corporate finance.

Red = 25 day moving average. Green = 200 day moving average.

Standard Chartered profit misses forecasts.

LONDON-- Standard Chartered PLC on Tuesday said its financial performance is "not yet acceptable," as it posted a $458 million pretax profit that fell short of analyst expectations.

Revenue for the Asia-focused bank was $3.47 billion in the three months, down from $3.68 billion in the third quarter of 2015, while bad loans fell to $596 million, from $1.23 billion in the same period last year.

A year ago, Standard Chartered posted a $139 million pretax loss for the third quarter and stepped up a program to shrink its balance sheet and pull back from riskier business. The profit-and-loss figures don't include restructuring charges and adjustments for the value of the bank's debt.

Analysts had expected adjusted pretax profit of $601 million for the quarter. The bank didn't release net profit figures but after adjustments the pretax profit was $153 million for the quarter, from $430 million last year, reflecting fluctuations in the value of Standard Chartered bonds.

Standard Chartered has reported an 82 per cent rise in first-half profits, but shares in the emerging markets bank fell amid investor frustration at how long its turnround is taking.

Having slumped to its second heavy annual loss last year, StanChart said it achieved 5 per cent growth in its loan book, driven by growth in corporate finance, trade finance and mortgages.

The bank, which operates across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, reported a statutory pre-tax profit of $1.8bn for the first six months of this year, compared with $963m in the same period last year.

Revenues were up 3 per cent at $7.2bn. The bank’s operating expenses rose 7 per cent to $4.9bn. Loan impairments almost halved to $655m. Analysts had on average expected first-half revenues of $7.2bn and pre-tax profits of $1.8bn.

Bill Winters, chief executive, said:
We have had an encouraging start to 2017, making steady progress against our strategic objectives…we are stronger, leaner and becoming more efficient. We go into the second half of the year confident in our resilience and in our ability to generate better value for our clients and shareholders.

Profits attributable to ordinary shareholders were $971m, up from $465m in the same period of last year. That meant the bank’s return on equity rose from 2.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent – below its long-term target of 10 per cent.

Shares in the London-listed bank, which have gained 40 per cent in the past year but still lag rivals such as HSBC, fell 4 per cent to 813.8p shortly after the results were published on Wednesday morning.

StanChart suffered a tough few years after being fined by US regulators for sanctions breaches in 2012 and incurring heavy losses on risky loans to some large Asian clients that turned bad.

It is rebuilding under Mr Winters, who took over as chief executive in 2015 and set about restructuring a third of its loan book, stripping out 30 per cent of its annual cost base, suspending its dividend and slashing thousands of jobs.

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its sell investment rating on Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) and cut its price target to 668p (from 674p).

I only need another 3p to breakeven. Might as well stick to the original plan and hold on for £11 now

StanChart resumes dividend payout as 2017 profit soars

Maybe of interest.

Black Rock bought 41.3m 30/08/18 (According to Sharepad)

Target prices

Date Broker New target Recomm.
12 Sep Goldman Sachs 945.00 Conviction Buy
10 Sep Societe... N/A Hold
30 Aug JP Morgan... 930.00 Overweight


Projections seem OK.

Also Large investments outside UK

DYOH

But it ain't doing me any favours.

This is turning into a problem trade for me. Good job I haven't got very many.

Trump/concerns over china/cable all going against it right now.

Not one of my better picks.

CC,

I hope you are still holding:

https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6187816


Commenting on the performance, Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, said:

"The results for the first nine months of the year reflect our focus on significantly improving profitability, balance sheet quality, conduct and financial returns. Income growth year-on-year was slightly lower in the third quarter impacted by Africa and the Middle East and we remain alert to broader geopolitical uncertainties that have affected sentiment in some of our markets. But growth fundamentals remain solid across our markets and we are cautiously optimistic on global economic growth."

Strategic execution and outlook

· Further progress on strategic and financial priorities

o Profit up 25% driven by broad-based income growth and ongoing risk discipline

o Organic capital generation and enhanced risk management has further increased the Group's resilience

o RoE improved a further 150bps to 6.6% and RoTE a further 180bps to 7.5%

· Structural trends shaping economies in the Group's footprint remain intact, but uncertainty has increased

o The macroeconomic environment continues to be supported by solid growth fundamentals

o Escalating trade tension and other macroeconomic factors are affecting sentiment in emerging markets

o Income from Wealth Management was 8% higher on a YTD basis but in Q3 was down 5% YoY

o The Group remains cautiously optimistic on global economic growth

· Having made substantial progress executing the transformation plan laid out in 2015, the Group will announce at its FY 2018 results the areas of focus that will deliver higher returns over the next three years

Financial performance highlights

· Underlying profit before tax of $3.4bn was up $0.7bn or 25% reflecting focus on improving returns

o Statutory profit before tax also $3.4bn included restructuring and other items of $17m

· Operating income of $11.4bn grew 5% on both a reported and constant currency basis (ccy)

o All client segments grew between 5-8% with particular strength in the GCNA region up 11%

o Net interest income grew 10% and NIM increased 5bps

o Q3 income was up 4% YoY and down 1% QoQ primarily impacted by the AME region

· Operating expenses of $7.6bn were 5% higher YoY (4% ccy)

o Q3 operating expenses were up 1% YoY (flat ccy) and down 5% QoQ

o Operating expenses in H2 18 ex-UK bank levy still expected to be similar to H1 18

· Asset quality improved YoY and was stable during Q3

o Credit impairment of $408m reduced 56%

o The Group remains vigilant given geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties