London: Bank giant HSBC said on Wednesday that its net profit slid 18 per cent in the first quarter as lower revenues offset cost-cutting but added that bad debt charges fell.
Profit after tax stood at $5.069 billion (3.64 billion euros) in the three months to the end of March. Compared with $6.211 billion in the first quarter of 2013, the British bank said in an earnings statement. "In the first quarter we maintained control of costs," HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said in the statement. He added that "revenue was lower than the previous year's first quarter, which benefited from a number of specific items" and said that loan impairment charges fell.
Revenue dropped 8.0 per cent to $15.71 billion, while pre-tax profit was down 20 per cent to $6.785 billion. The Asia-focused lender is pushing on with its savings programme, having announced last year plans to cut costs by a further $2.0 billion to $3.0 billion between 2014 and 2016.
HSBC shares were trading down 0.81 per cent at 599.20 pence in the wake of the earnings update on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was showing a loss of 0.30 percent at 6,778.50 points by mid-morning.
