By Alex Ho
Investing.com - HSBC Holdings PLC (HK:0005), Europe’s largest bank, announced on Tuesday that its 2019 pre-tax profit slumped 32.9% to $13.35 billion.
The bank said the profit drop was a result of a one-off goodwill impairment of $7.3 billion, mainly relating to its investment banking and commercial banking businesses in Europe.
Analysts previously expected the bank’s pre-tax profits in 2019 to largely match the $19.89 billion figure from a year earlier.
HSBC's revenue for the year was $56.1 billion, while earnings per share was $0.30.
The bank added that it will “continue to monitor the recent coronavirus outbreak, which is causing economic disruption in Hong Kong and mainland China and may impact performance in 2020.”
The bank derived almost half of its revenue and nearly 90% of its profits from Asia in 2018, with much of that coming from Hong Kong.
HSBC’s shares in Hong Kong slumped 2.5% to HK$57.90 by 1:06 AM ET (05:05 GMT).
The Bank has a dual primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange.