Profits dive 46 per cent at Standard Chartered but share price jumps
Standard Chartered's share price has jumped even as it reported a 46 per cent fall in profits and said it was not yet ready to reinstate an interim dividend.
The emerging markets focused bank reported pre-tax underlying profits of $994m (£745m) in the first six months of the year, down from $1.8bn in the comparable period of 2015, but up from a hefty $990m loss in the second half of last year.
Underlying operating income was down by 19.8 per cent to $6.8bn.
Bill Winters, group chief executive said:
We have made good progress in the year since I joined, strengthening our bank, becoming more efficient and investing in our future.
By maintaining our financial strength and completing our transformation we will be able to weather near-term volatility, fix our legacy issues, capture significant underlying opportunities as they arise, and, in time, generate returns above our cost of capital.
The environment remains challenging but we are getting on with the plan.
Shares were up by 4.8 per cent in mid-morning trading to 618p.
The cost-cutting drive at the Asia-focused bank also continued as underlying operating expenses dropped 13 per cent, a $4bn after stripping out one-off regulatory costs.
The news comes after HSBC reported a 29 per cent fall in profits this morning, but maintained its dividend and announced a $2.5bn share buyback scheme.