Despite incurring $1.6bn (£1.25bn) in loan loss provisions during the first half, Standard Chartered’s (STAN) underlying pre-tax profits came in substantially ahead of consensus expectations. Income from the financial markets business jumped by a fifth, offsetting the impact of a decline in interest rates globally.
Some of its businesses, such as the North Asia and Greater China retail banking market, had begun to show signs of recovery, the lender said. However, chief executive Bill Winters conceded that income would likely be lower during the second half as market gains eased and given the challenges of interest rate reductions, depressed oil prices and a possible second Covid-19 wave. With that in mind, the lender has started to implement cost-saving initiatives in the hope of keeping operating expenses below $10bn this year and next.
The consensus forecast net tangible assets at the end of 2020 stands at 928¢ a share, rising to 972¢ the same time the following year.
| STANDARD CHARTERED (STAN) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 404p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 12.8bn | |
| TOUCH: | 404.6-404.9p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 740p | LOW: 368p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | Nil | PE RATIO: | 12 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,569¢ | LEVERAGE: | 16.4 | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Total operating income ($bn) | Pre-tax profit ($bn) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2019 | 7.83 | 2.41 | 38.0 | 7.0 |
| 2020 | 8.10 | 1.63 | 25.8 | nil |
| % change | +3 | -32 | -32 | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| £1=$1.28 | ||||
