Week Ahead: Asia-focused banks under the spotlight

LONDON (ShareCast) - Banks are likely to be once again in focus next week, with the focus shifting from UK government-owned operators to two firms with strong presences in Asia: HSBC (LSE: HSBA.L - news) and Standard Chartered (Xetra: 859123 - news) . On Monday, HSBC will update the market on its fourth quarter performance and also publish its full year numbers. HSBC's third quarter figures disappointed the market, so it has some reputational repairs to do. The firm's underlying pre-tax profits in the third quarter fell from $4.6bn a year earlier to $3bn, more than a third below some forecasts, mainly due to falling revenues in investment banking, an adverse movement in its hedging strategy of $0.7bn. The firm also said that an increase in loan impairment charges, primarily in North America, had an adverse impact on the bottom line, as weak economic conditions affected home owners' abilities to make their mortgage repayments, leading to a rise in delinquency rates. Broker Charles Stanley reckons full year profit before tax to edge up to $20,833m from $19,037m in 2010. The broker has pencilled in 87 cents for earnings per share, up from 72 cents the year before, while the full year dividend pay-out is predicted to be increased to 40 cents, in line with consensus, from 36 cents. Nomura thinks the management will be a bit more stingy on the dividend front, and is predicting a divi of just 38 cents. The Japanese broker thinks the things to look out for will include growth trends and the outlook for 2012, as well as the performance of HSBC Finance and progress on, or changes to, restructuring plans within the US operations. Nomura will also be keeping a close eye on fourth quarter costs, which management had guided to as flat relative to the third quarter, and the potential for cost reduction and operating leverage running into 2012, plus discussions around HSBC's expansion plans in China and the time-line over which this could flow through the income statement. There is a potential impact on capital if expansion is through inorganic means, Nomura believes. As for Standard Chartered, Nomura thinks there may be risks of estimate downgrades but notes this is true for virtually all banks. In December, Standard Chartered said its income for 2011 is now expected to grow at "just below a double digit rate" after a depreciation in Asian exchange rates against the dollar. Previously the bank had forecast double digit revenue growth, but it has been hit by Asian exchange rates falling by up to 5% since its third quarter statement. As with HSBC, the broker will be looking for the bank's view on growth trends and indications for 2012. Impairments should be less than they were in 2011, and Nomura thinks Hong Kong, Singapore and "Other Pacific Regions" are likely to have put in a good shift, while India and Korea are likely to have been weak. Away from the banking sector, but back to an unusually busy Monday for company results, Financial Times and Penguin (SES: E2:P13.SI - news) books publisher Pearson (EUREX: PSOF.EX - news) releases full year results. Market consensus for the firm which recently sold off its stake in the FTSE market indices joint venture with the London Stock Exchange (LSE: LSE.L - news) is for revenue of £5,919m and profit before tax of £837.6m. Earnings per share are set to rise to 84.48p from 77.5p the year before while analysts have pencilled in a full year dividend of 42.45p, up from 38.70p. Charles Stanley, which is below consensus on revenue (£5,875m) but ahead on profit before tax (£890m), reckons the group will report another solid set of results, despite mixed trading in its main markets. "We note that Chief Executive, Dame Marjorie Scardino, has recently reached the age of 65. Having been in the position since 1997, there is a possibility that succession plans could be announced with the results. We believe there are a number of strong internal candidates to succeed her and remain relatively sanguine about a potential change in leadership," noted Charles Stanley analyst Sam Hart. Monday February 27 INTERIMS Netcall (LSE: NET.L - news) , Sareum Holdings (Berlin: RYH.BE - news) INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE City of London Investment Group INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS M3 Money Supply (EU) (09:00) Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00) Q4 PostNL NV FINALS Bovis Homes Group (Frankfurt: 911164 - news) , Cookson Group, Dialight (LSE: DIA.L - news) , Hiscox Ltd., HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HCS-PB - news) , Keller Group, Microgen (LSE: MCGN.L - news) , Pearson, PostNL NV, Senior (Xetra: 852271 - news) , Staffline Group (LSE: STAF.L - news) , Ultra Electronics Holdings, WSP Group (Other OTC: WWSPF.PK - news) ANNUAL REPORT Treatt (LSE: TET.L - news) IMSS Essar Energy (Dusseldorf: 11224817.DU - news) EGMS JSC Acron GDR (Reg S), JSC KazMunaiGaz Exploration Production GDR (Reg S) AGMS Treatt TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Associated British Foods (Dusseldorf: 719064.DU - news) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Compass Group (Other OTC: CMPGF.PK - news) Tuesday February 28 INTERIMS Boomerang Plus (LSE: BOOM.L - news) , Craneware (Other OTC: CRWRF.PK - news) , Petra Diamonds Ltd., Tracsis (Berlin: 4T2.BE - news) , Waterman Group (LSE: WTM.L - news) , Wilmington Group (Munich: 913825 - news) INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Core VCT (LSE: CR3.L - news) 'B' Shares, IG Group Holdings QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE City of London Inv Trust INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00) Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00) Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30) Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00) PMI Retail (EU) (09:00) PMI Retail (GER) (08:55) FINALS Aer Lingus Group, AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI), CRH (Irish: CRG.IR - news) , GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) , Molins (LSE: MLIN.L - news) , Moneysupermarket (Xetra: A0MW73 - news) .com Group, Perform Group, Persimmon (LSE: PSN.L - news) , Promethean World, Provident Financial (Berlin: PH5.BE - news) , Rotork (LSE: ROR.L - news) , SDL (LSE: SDL.L - news) , Serco Group (Dusseldorf: 405031.DU - news) AGMS Servoca (LSE: SVCA.L - news) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Whitbread (Other OTC: WTBCF.PK - news) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00) Wednesday February 29 INTERIMS Ricardo, RSM Tenon Group (LSE: TNO.L - news) , Sportingbet (LSE: SBT.L - news) INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE BHP Billiton (Hamburg: BHP1.HM - news) , Carclo (LSE: CAR.L - news) , Casdon plc, Diageo (Other OTC: DGEAF.PK - news) , Downing Income VCT 3, Hansard Global (Berlin: H9G.BE - news) , Hargreaves Services (LSE: HSP.L - news) , Hays (LSE: HAS.L - news) , Jupiter Primadona Growth Trust, Kier Group (LSE: KIE.L - news) , Ruffer Investment Company Ltd., Utilico Investments Ltd (DI) QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Polar Capital Global Healthcare Growth & Income Trust QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Canaccord Financial Inc., Duet Real Estate Finance Ltd, Premier Energy (Berlin: P79.BE - news) & Water Trust INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Payments (GER) (07:00) Beige Book Fed Survey (US) (19:00) Chicago PMI (US) (13:45) Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) GDP (Preliminary) (US) (13:30) GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00) Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00) International Reserves (EU) (11:00) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55) Q2 Sportingbet Q4 Endeavor International Corp., Norwegian Property ASA FINALS ANT (Berlin: A3F.BE - news) , Capital & Counties Properties , Carillion (Dusseldorf: 6CJ.DU - news) , Endeavor International Corp., Glanbia (Irish: GL9.IR - news) , GlobeOp Financial Services SA (DI), Henderson Group (Frankfurt: A0Q9SW - news) , International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, Interserve (Xetra: 860509 - news) , ITV (Other OTC: ITVPF.PK - news) , Lavendon Group (LSE: LVD.L - news) , National Express Group, Restaurant Group (Other OTC: CCRHF.PK - news) , Standard Chartered, Taylor Wimpey (Dusseldorf: 408518.DU - news) , Weir Group (Other OTC: WEIGF.PK - news) ANNUAL REPORT Bank Millennium SA SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE easyJet EGMS Park Plaza Hotels Ltd. AGMS 2 ergo Group, ATH Resources (Berlin: GQW.BE - news) , Image Scan Holdings, Sage Group (Other OTC: SGGEF.PK - news) , XCAP Securities (LSE: XCAP.L - news) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Consumer Credit (09:30) GFK Consumer Confidence (00:01) M4 Money Supply (09:30) M4 Sterling Lending (09:30) Mortgage Approvals (09:30) Trends in Lending (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Zambeef Products FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE easyJet, Hazel Renewable Energy VCT 1, Hazel Renewable Energy VCT 2, LPA Group (Berlin: LPP.BE - news) , New Europe Property Investments, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Capital Shares, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Income Shares, Rio Tinto (Berlin: CRA1.BE - news) Thursday March 01 INTERIMS AI Claims Solutions (LSE: ACS.L - news) QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Auto Sales (US) (15:00) Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45) Construction Spending (US) (15:00) Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00) ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00) Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30) Personal Income (US) (13:30) Personal Spending (US) (13:30) PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55) PMI Manufacturing  (UK) (09:30) GMS Woodburne Square Ag FINALS Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd. (Singapore), Derwent London (Munich: 897679 - news) , Fiberweb (Other OTC: FBWBF.PK - news) , Fyffes (Irish: FQ3.IR - news) , Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd. (DI), Hongkong Land Holding Ltd. (Singapore), Howden Joinery Group, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) , Mandarin Oriental International (Singapore), Novae Group, office2office, Psion (LSE: PON.L - news) , Quadnetics Group (Berlin: RNR.BE - news) , Robert Walters (LSE: RWA.L - news) , Spirent Communications, Unite Group (Munich: 634811 - news) , Vitec Group, WPP (LSE: WPP.L - news) , Xchanging (Xetra: A0MQH0 - news) EGMS ACTA Spa (Berlin: A6E.BE - news) AGMS Driver Group (LSE: DRV.L - news) , IDOX (LSE: IDOX.L - news) , LPA Group, Terrace Hill Group (LSE: THG.L - news) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Kazakhmys (Munich: A0HFWR - news) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE British Portfolio Trust Friday March 02 INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Daejan Holdings, Latchways (LSE: LTC.L - news) , Mattioli Woods (Berlin: M5L.BE - news) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Retail Sales (GER) (07:00) FINALS BBA Aviation (LSE: BBA.L - news) , IMI (EUREX: IMIF.EX - news) , Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore), Jardine Strategic Holdingd Ltd. (Singapore), Laird (LSE: LRD.L - news) , Rentokil Initial (LSE: RTO.L - news) ANNUAL REPORT Smith & Nephew (LSE: SN.L - news) EGMS MTI Wireless Edge Ltd. AGMS CQS Diversified Fund Ltd Ord NPV £, MTI Wireless Edge Ltd. UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS PMI Construction (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Gooch & Housego (LSE: GHH.L - news) , Sage Group, Treatt jh