HSBC has had to cave in and pay yet another huge penalty to fend off claims in the US of widespread fraud and corruption. It took the benighted bank some ten years until 1916 before it had the grace to cough up and agree to pay compensation to US customers to whom it brought financial misery and in many cases deliberately made homeless. The bank has now been forced to pay a huge $765 million settlement to the US Department of Justice but still will not admit to any wrongdoing, which raises the rather major question, as to why in that case it has agreed to make the payment. Banks are not particularly noted for their generosity.
The bank paid up rather than try to defend itself against allegations that it misled investors, misrepresented the quality of securities, hurt people and abused their trust, caused major losses by investors and contributed to a crisis of foreclosures. The amount involved at $24bn was not chicken feed but this is the worlds bank so nobody has actually been sent to prison. The bank claims that it has put things right by strengthening its internal controls but in the same breath it admits that it is still completing the turn-around of its US operations. Twelve years after the event and it has still not got its act together!
Page Group plc PAGE saw third quarter gross profit rise by 19.7%, the highest quarterly growth rate since 2011. The increase ranged from virtually nil (0.8%) in the UK, to 30% in the Americas and 27.7% in Asia Pacific. operating profit for 2018 is expected to be marginally ahead of consensus
Sanderson Group plc SND updates that trading results for the year to the end of September are significantly ahead of 2017, but also slightly ahead of current market expectations. Group revenue rose by nearly 50% and operating profit by 30% to over £5 million compared to 2017’s: £3.90 million. Sales orders in the second half of the year were strong and on a like-for-like basis, the order book at he year end was up by over 9%..jpg)
Iofina plc IOF produced the largest quarterly total of crystalline iodine in its history with a total of 172.3 metric tonnes for the third quarter, an increase of 37.8% over the third quarter of 2017. The company expects the positive momentum which it is currently experiencing will significantly increase Group revenue and profits from those attained in the first half.”
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