HSBC's $2.5b buy-back boosts shares as bank postpones profit goal

HSBC announced a $2.5 billion share buy-back and pared ambitions to grow dividend payouts and returns as it took pragmatic steps to soothe investors amid slowing growth in its home markets of Britain and Hong Kong.

The lender's London-listed shares were trading 3.6 percent higher at 0808 GMT after the buy-back took the sting out of a 29 percent drop in January-June pretax profits, which matched analysts' expectations.

As Britain's vote to leave the European Union clouds economic prospects and Hong Kong absorbs slower growth in China, HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, has opted to "remove a timetable" for reaching its targeted return on equity (RoE) in excess of 10 percent by the end of next year. Return on equity at end-June was 7.4 percent.

"Abandoning the timetable for reaching a 10 percent RoE is not pessimistic as much as realistic that interest rates in the US aren't going up and 'lower-for-longer' is brutal for them," Richard Buxton, CEO of Old Mutual Global Investors, one of HSBC's 30 largest investors, told Reuters.

Group Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said the bank had removed the word "progressive" from its guidance on dividend payout plans, as a reflection of tougher market conditions.

"'Progressive' was interpreted by everyone as meaning it is going to go up every quarter notwithstanding what is happening in the world, so what we are saying is we are committed to sustain the dividend at the current level," he told Reuters.

While investors interpreted the new guidance as pragmatic, analysts at Shore Capital said they were "less than convinced" by the management's pledge to maintain the dividend, noting that both Gulliver and Chairman Douglas Flint are set to step down in the next couple of years.

"With the earnings outlook continuing to deteriorate ... a future dividend cut could therefore still be on the cards, especially if a new leadership takes a different view."

The share buy-back follows HSBC's disposal of its Brazil unit last month in a $5.2 billion deal. Gulliver told Reuters HSBC's core equity ratio would move to 12.6 percent from 12.1 percent at the end of June, following the buy-back, in line with the bank's target range of 12-13 percent.