LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - HSBC said its firstquarter profits almost doubled from a year ago to more than $8billion as bad debts and costs fell, with Europe's biggest bankshowing the benefit of a 3-year restructuring plan.
HSBC reported a pretax profit of $8.4 billion onTuesday, up from $4.3 billion a year ago and above the averageforecast of $8.1 billion from analysts polled by the company.
Losses from bad debts plunged 51 percent to $1.2 billion andcosts fell 10 percent in the first quarter from a year ago,benefiting from Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver's drive tostreamline operations, reduce complexity and axe businesses thatare unprofitable or lack scale. He has shed 52 businesses sincetaking over in early 2011.