Broker snap: Nomura happy with HSBC's full-year figures

27th Feb 2012 11:14

Nomura has maintained its buy recommendation and 725p target price on global banking giant HSBC, saying that this morning's results are 'supportive of our investment case'.The broker says that full-year figures were broadly in line with its expectations, with pre-tax profit of $21.9bn just short of its $22.4bn forecast. "Although there is downgrade risk in the sector generally, we see less risk at HSBC and STAN [Standard Chartered] and reiterate our buy rating on the back of these results."One of the key points of the results, Nomura says, was the Hong Kong performance as it has recently been the focus for the bears. Profits were up 2% on revenue up 5%. Revenue was 3% lower in the second half than the first, but the broker says that it was cautious that these trends could have been more negative.Furthermore, "the outlook statement is more optimistic than usual for HSBC and indicates an expectation of improving the RoE in 2012 and of continued strong growth in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, although at a slower pace than last year, with a soft landing in China."BC