Standard Chartered must be the envy of the sector. Its Asian focus is delivering impressive growth, the bank has avoided painful customer compensation claims, credit quality looks good and there's virtually no exposure to weak eurozone countries. Sure, the shares aren't cheaply rated – but it's the only UK-listed bank with robust enough prospects to be worth investing in.
Chief executive Peter Sands sees "no dimming of Asia's long-term growth prospects" either, as drivers such as urbanisation and industrialisation continue. That helped Standard's core Hong Kong operation to grow total half-year profits, after combining wholesale and consumer earnings 10 per cent year-on-year to $870m (£554m). On the same combined basis, profits in Singapore grew 17 per cent to $546m, while in Korea they soared 57 per cent to $303m. True, combined profits in the other Asia Pacific unit did fall 13 per cent to $708m, reflecting higher expenses and loan provisions in the consumer operation, but wholesale performed particularly strong. And, while the group impairment charge rose 18 per cent in the half to $583m, that remains tiny compared to the $274bn loan book.
Investec Securities expects full-year EPS of 223.5¢ (200.8¢ in 2011).
STANDARD CHARTERED (STAN) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,496p | MARKET VALUE: | £35,792m | |
| TOUCH: | 1,494-1,496p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,665p | LOW: 1,142p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.3% | PE RATIO: | 11 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,126p | |||
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Pre-tax profit ($bn) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 3.64 | 107 | 24.8 |
| 2012 | 3.95 | 118 | 27.2 |
| % change | +9 | +10 | +10 |
Ex-div: 8 Aug Payment: 11 Oct £1=$1.57 | |||
