As we reported earlier HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) reported earnings of $6.8 billion this morning compared with last year’s $5.4 billion. The firm’s revenue was slightly down for the year to a total of $16.4 billion. The company gave credit to it’s financial and commercial banking sectors for the improved profit but the bank’s investment branch performed well also. That part of the business saw an increase of $174 million year on year in profit bringing it to $3.1 billion. How did the bank’s numbers compare to results from the other big European firms? Look for yourself:
Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) announced its earnings on Wednesday April 25. The financial firm suffered falls in returns at its investment arm and saw profit fall to just 44 million SFr on revenue of 5.88 billion SFr. In the year earlier period the company had earned 1.14 billion SFr on revenue of 7.81 billion SFr. Investors were not too perturbed by the announcement as the firm had posted a large loss in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the company’s sub par earnings in the first quarter were mainly due to one time expenses.
Barclays plc (NYSE:BCS) announced that it had seen a 22 percent rise in first quarter profit, comparable to HSBC’s gains on April 26 last. The firm earned £2.7 billion in the first quarter while analysts had only expected £2 billion from the firm. In contrast to many of its rivals the company earned the bulk of its profit from its investment banking arm. Income at Barclays Capital was £3.46 billion. That result more than any demonstrated that though there are problems for investment banks there is still money to be made in the sector.
Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) posted earnings that contrasted entirely to Barclays results. The company earned 1.4 billion euro compared to the year earlier period of 2.1 billion euro. The company pointed to the usual decline in investment banking fees to explain the lackluster results and attested to solid results in a difficult time. The company was also victim to over 200 million euro in fees resulting from lawsuits against the company.
UBS (NYSE:UBS) reported its earnings on May 2 and delivered disappointing numbers to its shareholders. The firm posted earnings of 827 million SFr compared to last year’s 1.8 billion SFr. That was below what analysts looked for at 1.32 billion SFr. The firm gave a positive outlook for the rest of 2012 but that may not last for long as recent European elections may result in greater instability on the continent. That would result in lower targets for most firms in the financial sector.
