BUZZ-HSBC: FY miss, absence of buyback weigh on shares

** Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in HSBC Holdings (Frankfurt: 923893 - news) down 4% and are on track for their worst single-day percentage drop in a year

** Annual pre-tax profit and the absence of a share buyback disappoint

** Says that it plans additional tier 1 (AT1) capital issuance of between $5-$7 billion during H1 2018, and that it would undertake share buybacks "as and when appropriate"

** Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) says absence of share buy-back appears to be attributed to the timing of $5-7bn of AT1, planned for H1 2018

** Since mid-2016 HSBC had announced share buybacks for $5.5 billion

** "We leave our $3bn 18E buyback unchanged yet note this could mark a change in capital return strategy for new management", CS says

** Investec Securities says that while the final dividend was as expected (21c), "the absence of a buyback is a negative surprise"

** It does not expect HSBC to achieve return on equity of >10% by 2021e and sees flat dividend through 2018/19e