Subscribe For the group as a whole bad debt charges were down by $409m
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For the group as a whole bad debt charges were down by $409m to $1.1bn.Mr Whitson said that he would not rule out further acquisitions after the $5.1bn takeover of the Safra and Republic Bank of New York announced in May. Dividends were up 8 per cent at 13.3 cents a share.In the UK costs were down from 54.6 per cent of income to 52.9 per cent compared with the same half last year, while the net interest margin rose to 2.72 from 2.47 at the end of last year. For the first time in our history our profits before provisions approached $5bn for a six month period."The developed markets overall accounted for 55 per cent of profits. The UK, where HSBC waves goodbye to the old Midland name in September, was a big driver behind the group profits growth. Profits from UK banking were up 3.9 per cent to pounds 617m despite a pounds 30m pensions mis-selling charge, reflecting a benign economic environment and a better mix of business. Asia also returned a better performance than expected despite continued problems in parts of the region.
Hong Kong managed an 8.2 per cent rise in first-half profits to $1.4bn despite a largely stagnant domestic economy.Keith Whitson, the chief executive, said the group was especially encouraged by the 18 per cent rise in sales of life insurance, pensions and investment product in the UK, reflecting its success in encouraging cross-selling to existing customers of higher-margin savings products."Our results," he said, "reflect both the benign environment in which we operate and the solid progress we have made in implementing our strategy. SHARES IN HSBC jumped 3 per cent yesterday after the bank shrugged off concerns about its Asian economic exposure to beat most analysts' forecasts with a 10 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to $4bn (pounds 2.5bn) in the first half year. Pearson also said it plans to spend about pounds 120m on on-line related investment this year, up from pounds 80m in 1998.. Pearson TV faced tough competition as sales rose only 4 per cent to pounds 159m, but lower losses at Channel 5 helped operating profit jump one-fifth to pounds 33m. Average daily sales at the flagship Financial Times rose 9 per cent from a year ago and North American sales are on track to hit 100,000 per day by the year end.Penguin, the publisher, boosted sales 13 per cent to pounds 263m as operating profit nearly doubled to pounds 31m.
The FT Group, including the Financial Times, a 50 per cent interest in the Economist and several continental business dailies, saw operating profit grow 14 per cent to pounds 79m, though sales fell marginally to pounds 330m due to changes in the business portfolio and adverse exchange rate movements. Prior to interest costs on debt of pounds 2.5bn and goodwill amortisation, operating profit rose 14 per cent to pounds 126m. The media group's three other divisions all chalked up healthy earnings gains. Pearson Education, which also includes Addison Wesley Longman, accounted for pounds 554m out of total sales of pounds 1.3bn That represented a one-third rise on the year ago period. A technical shortage caused by lack of securities to deposit could result in an abnormal surge in short-term rates.. PEARSON, THE media group, slid into the red for the first-half with a pre-tax loss of pounds 38m as the acquisition last autumn of Simon & Schuster's educational publishing business ramped up costs.