Company News

LONDON: Banking group HSBC Holdings PLC reported a 5 per cent rise in half-year earnings yesterday as it pushed forward with its expansion into emerging markets and as bad debts fell in the United States.
HSBC said net profit for the six months ending June 30 was $7.98 billion, up from $7.61 billion a year ago.
The bank said total bad debts rose nearly 20 per cent to $3.28 billion from $2.74 billion, but bad debts in its North American operations fell 15 per cent to $2.02 billion from $2.38 billion.
HSBC Chairman John Bond said the results showed the importance of its presence in emerging markets as the rate of economic growth was slightly lower than in the first of 2004 in many of the group’s other major markets.
Bond said the bank’s prospects for further expansion in emerging markets are good. “The range of opportunities available to us to expand is more balanced geographically than ever,ª Bond said. HSBC has around 110 million customers around the world and employs 253,000 staff in 77 countries.
“Our performance in Mexico has been particularly pleasing,” Bond added. “We continue to see exciting opportunities to build on our results there and also grow large and successful businesses in Brazil, Turkey, the Middle East, India and South Korea.”

ABN Amro
AMSTERDAM: Dutch banking giant ABN Amro reported a better-than-expected 11.0-per cent profit gain in the second quarter yesterday and re-stated its interest in acquiring Banca Antonveneta of Italy.
BN Amro, with a 30-per cent stake in Banca Antonveneta, launched an offer for a controlling interest but acknowledged that the attempt had failed on July 25.
However, in an unexpected development, the Italian market regulator Consob then suspended a bid for Banca Antonveneta by ABN Amro’s principal rival, Banca Popolare Italiana, citing what it called a “serious” lack of transparency.
ABN Amro meanwhile reported net profit of 987 million euros (1.2 billion dollars) in second quarter 2005 compared with 889 million euros in the same period last year and ahead of market expectations of 793-872 million. Earnings per share were unchanged year-on-year at 0.54 euros due to a higher number of outstanding shares. Revenues rose 13.6 per cent to 4.840 billion euros, driven by a nine-per cent increase in net interest income as well as sharply higher results from financial transactions, trading and equity holdings.

Tyson Foods
SPRINGDALE, Arkansas: Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat processing company, reported yesterday its third-quarter earnings fell 18.6 per cent from a year ago, as charges for a legal settlement and a plant closing and slow pork sales depressed results.
The meat producer reported earnings of $131 million, or 36 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30 compared with $161 million, or 45 cents per share, in the prior-year period. Revenue rose to $6.7 billion from $6.6 billion a year ago on strong chicken and beef sales.

P&G
CHICAGO: Procter & Gamble Co., whose product lineup includes Crest toothpaste and Pampers diapers, yesterday reported a 9 per cent increase in quarterly profit, led by strong growth in its beauty and health care units.
Earnings rose to $1.5 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended on June 30, from $1.37 billion, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average expected 55 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
P&G, which plans to acquire Gillette Co. later this year, said net sales rose 10 per cent to $14.26 billion, helped in part by price increases and the weakness of the dollar against the euro, British pound and Canadian dollar. Analysts had expected revenue of $14.04 billion.


Statoil
OSLO: Norwegian energy group Statoil reported a 50 per cent jump in second-quarter pretax profit yesterday, driven by record oil prices, and it stood by its 2005 and 2007 production targets.
Pretax profit at the Nordic region’s biggest industrial group by revenues rose to 21.06 billion Norwegian crowns ($3.23 billion) in April-June from 14.08 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.
The result lagged an average forecast of 21.65 billion crowns in a Reuters poll of 16 analysts, though it was within the range of estimates of 20.22 billion to 23.45 billion crowns.

Olympus
TOKYO: Olympus Corp. said yesterday its net profit fell 62 per cent in the April-June quarter as losses in its digital camera operations overshadowed healthy sales of endoscopes, but reiterated its forecast for a return to profit in the full year.
Olympus, which is also the world’s top maker of endoscopes, posted a group net profit of 403 million yen ($3.58 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared with a net profit of 1.06 billion yen in the same period last year.   – Agencies




photo: John Bond (left), Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings PLC, gestures as Michael Smith, President and CEO of HSBC Asia Pacific, looks on during a news conference in Hong Kong yesterday.                          – Reuters 
Last update on: 2-8-2005