Last checked at 
* Third-quarter pretax profit jumps to $996 mln from $435
mln
* Books lower credit impairment charges
* Shares down 8%
* Bank could be keeping power dry for acquisitions, says
analyst
(Writes through, adds analyst reaction)
By Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White
SINGAPORE/LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered
on Tuesday forecast flat full-year income and dashed
investor buyback hopes, sending its shares down 8% despite
better than expected quarterly profit.
CEO Bill Winters, who has won praise for repairing the
balance sheet and cutting thousands of jobs since taking the top
job in 2015, has been under increasing pressure in recent years
to boost revenues and lift the bank's ailing shares.
The strong quarterly results and $2 billion share buyback https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/hsbc-q3-profit-up-74-beats-estimates-announces-up-2bln-buyback-2021-10-25
reported by Asia-focused rival HSBC last week had
raised hopes among some investors that StanChart would follow
suit, but analysts said it was conserving capital instead.
"We had hoped that a further $250 million share buyback
would be announced today. Management has essentially decided to
keep its powder dry," said Investec analyst Ian Gordon,
referring to a possible bid for Asian retail banking operations
earmarked for sale by Citigroup
The British-based bank also took a slightly more uncertain
view of the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic than
rivals who have released cash set aside to cover bad loans that
never materialised.
"The economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has
continued to be uneven and punctuated by supply chain
disruption," StanChart said in its results statement.
PROFIT LEAP
StanChart's third-quarter statutory pretax profit more than
doubled year on year to $996 million, helped by lower credit
charges. The average estimate from 16 analyst forecasts compiled
by the bank was for a $942 million profit.
Credit impairment charges fell to $107 million from $353
million, with the bank saying it expects these to remain at low
levels in the fourth quarter.
Overall income rose 7% to $3.8 billion, with the bank
reiterating its target of 5-7% income growth from next year.
StanChart, which bases its business on capturing trade flows
between its key markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East,
said trade income rose 13% to its highest since early 2018.
CHINA EXPOSURE
The bank said it had $4.2 billion in exposure to China's
real estate sector, where China Evergrande Group is
grappling with a $300 billion debt pile and stoking fears of
further defaults and contagion risks.
"We continue to monitor the potential second-order impacts
of recent developments," StanChart said, stating that overall
exposure of $18.5 billion to commercial real estate, a fraction
of the group's $302 billion in total customer loans and
advances.
Like HSBC, StanChart has been betting on the world's
second-largest economy to help to drive growth, but Winters
faces a challenge convincing investors of his bank's prospects
StanChart, the biggest shareholder of which is Singapore
state investor Temasek Holdings with close to a 17% stake, is
trading at a lower multiple than its peers. It trades at 0.44
times book value for 2022, compared with 0.62 times for HSBC and
0.55 for Barclays, Refinitiv data shows.
Winters is by far the longest-serving CEO at a major
British-based bank. The shock departure of Barclays CEO https://www.reuters.com/business/barclays-ceo-staley-stand-down-following-epstein-investigation-2021-11-01
Jes Staley on Monday means Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and
NatWest have all had a change at the top in the past two years.
(Reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore and Lawrence White in
London
Editing by Himani Sarkar and David Goodman)
