LONDON (dpa-AFX) - British bank Standard Chartered Plc reported Tuesday significantly higher profit in its third quarter with increased operating income. Looking ahead for fiscal 2021, the company said it continues to expect flat income on a constant currency basis, with fourth quarter being sequentially lower. The shares fell around 2 percent in Hong Kong regular trading, and were losing around 8 percent in the morning trading in London.
According to the company, the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to be uneven and punctuated by supply-chain disruption. However, there are robust levels of export growth across many of its markets in Asia.
The company projects that strong underlying business momentum throughout 2021 should enable income growth to return to 5-7 percent guidance range from fiscal 2022.
Regarding the third-quarter performance, Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, said, 'We delivered a return to top-line growth in the third quarter and achieved further progress against our strategic priorities, with strong performance in our Financial Markets and Trade businesses and ongoing positive momentum in Wealth Management.'
For the third quarter, profit before tax surged 129 percent to $996 million from last year's $435 million.
Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was $644 million, significantly higher than $123 million a year ago. Earnings per share grew to 20.7 US cents from 3.9 US cents last year.
Underlying profit before taxation was $1.08 billion, compared to $745 million a year ago. Underlying earnings per share were 23.1 US cents, compared to prior year's 13.6 US cents.
Operating income for the quarter grew 7 percent to $3.76 billion from prior year's $3.51 billion. Income increased 5 percent at constant currency and excluding normalisation adjustments.
Net interest income grew 7 percent from last year to $1.74 billion, while net interest margin remained at prior year's 1.23 percent.
In London, Standard Chartered shares were trading at 463.60 pence, down 8.34 percent. In Hong Kong, the shares fell 2.4 percent to close at HK$51.55.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX