UK Index heavyweight HSBC (7% weighting) is depriving the blue-chip index of a valuable 21.5pts this morning, its shares down 4.4% and footing the index after FY 2017 results failed to meet market expectations.

2017 full year adjusted profits may well have surged more than six fold to $9.7bn, and revenues climbed 7% to $51.5bn thanks to its pivot to Asia, however, a more than doubling of pre-tax profits to $17.2bn still missed $19.5bn analyst expectations after the collapse of Steinhoff and Carillion swelled Q4 bad loan charges by 40%.

And when investors have become rather accustomed to a supportive share buyback programme ($5.5bn so far; $3bn last year) any pause, especially to raise more capital ($5-7bn) to strengthen the balance sheet, only adds to the disappointment along with a flat dividend, even if loyal income seekers may only have to wait until the second half of the year for the buybacks to resume

There is a lot for outgoing CEO Stuart Gulliver to be proud of after his 7 year stint at the wheel of what is more tanker than ship, steering through at times troubled waters, including a money laundering compliance failure scandal, some heavy restructuring and of course regulatory changes amid an evolving post financial crisis backdrop.

No CEO likes to see their shares trade lower on results day, let alone your last day in the office. However, departing with an 8 out of 10 report card (2015 targets set by himself), the share price significantly off Brexit lows, the bank’s reputation much stronger and revenues back to growth, I think he’ll be more than able set sail into the sunset rather content with what he has achieved for investors over 7 years, rather than focusing too much on what markets think about the latest quarter.

Mike van Dulken, Head of research, 20 Feb 2018