HSBC 2014 Profit Drops

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HSBC) reported a drop in its profit for the full year.The bank's net profit for the year slipped to $13.7 billion, compared to $16.2 billion, in the year-ago period. Its profit before tax declined 17% to US$18,680 million from US$22,565 million, while adjusted profit before tax declined slightly to US$22,829 million from US$22,981 million. Earnings per share fell to US$0.69 from US$0.84. Its revenue gained to $62 billion versus $61.9 billion in 2013.Return on equity narrowed to 7.3% from 9.2%.Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive said, "2014 was a challenging year in which we continued to work hard to improve business performance while managing the impact of a higher operating cost base. Profits disappointed, although a tough fourth quarter masked some of the progress made over the preceding three quarters. Many of the challenging aspects of the fourth quarter results were common to the industry as a whole. In spite of this, there were a number of encouraging signs, particularly in Commercial Banking, Payments & Cash Management and renminbi products and services. We were also able to continue to grow the dividend."HSBC shares gained 0.93% to close at $46.68 on Friday.