BP posts $5B quarterly profit on strong oil and gas trading | British energy company BP has reported a strong quarterly profit of $5 billion in underlying replacement cost profit for the first three months of 2023, up from $4.8 billion in the previous quarter. The earnings report has been attributed to exceptional gas marketing and trading results, as well as a strong oil trading performance. The profit numbers were lower than the $6.2 billion BP posted in the first quarter of 2022 but still exceeded analyst expectations. The company also announced further plans to reward shareholders by buying back $1.75 billion of stock.
Pfizer's Q1 results beat estimates despite sharp COVID-19 vaccine sales drop | Pfizer announced its first quarter results, which exceeded Wall Street's expectations, despite a sharp decline in sales of its flagship COVID-19 vaccine. In the first three months of 2021, revenue from Pfizer's Comirnaty vaccine plummeted by 77 percent, generating only $3 billion in sales, compared to over $13 billion in the same period last year. The drugmaker saw a significant decline in net income in the first quarter, with a 30 percent decrease amounting to $5.54 billion, with adjusted results totalling $1.23 per share. The company's total revenue also decreased by 29 percent to $18.3 billion. (Image: Reuters)
HSBC Q1: Pretax profit soars 207% despite banking turmoil, dividend update | HSBC Holdings, the largest bank in Europe by total assets, reported a 207.14 percent rise in pretax profit for Q1 2023, reaching $12.9 billion, beating an average estimate of $8.64 billion. This strong performance comes despite turmoil in the global banking scene due to the collapse of major US banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse. HSBC attributed its sharp rise in quarterly profit to rising interest rates worldwide, which boosted its income. The bank announced its first quarterly dividend since 2019 at $0.1/share and plans to buy back up to $2 billion of its stock to bolster investor support, amidst criticism from its biggest shareholder, Ping An. (Image: Reuters)