Agenda: Air Canada, HSBC, Royal Bank, IAG, Ford.
Air Canada is confident for the second half of 2022. During its most recent quarter, Air Canada lowered its financial loss compared to the same quarter a year earlier. According to Air Canada's press release, the economic difficulties related to the opening and the closing of the economy in 2021 and the omicron variant influenced the behavior of Air Canada's customers. Indeed, whether for business trips or tourist destinations, several cancellations or postponements occurred in 2022. Air Canada mentions that with the lifting of sanitary measures in the majority of countries globally, the company is very confident about the recovery of the global aviation sector.
Excellent financial performance for HSBC bank. Indeed, in its most recent quarterly results, HSBC announced that its profits more than doubled from the same quarter a year earlier. The bank's head office is in London, yet HSBC makes over 80% of its profits in Asia. In addition, China and Hong Kong represent the most significant percentage of its profits. According to US News, HSBC mentioned that the wealth management segment represents an important growth opportunity, as the number of millionaires has been increasing significantly in Asia for several years now. On the other hand, the bank says it is concerned about the increase in inflation at the global level, which for some countries has reached a level not seen for more than 30 years.
Increased profits for the Royal Bank. According to Yahoo Finance, for its last quarter, the Royal Bank of Canada achieved a profit of more than 5% compared to a year earlier. The two divisions of the bank that contributed the most to this increase include the Wealth Management and the Retail Banking divisions. These two divisions increased their earnings by 20% and 9% within one year. Further, the bank's management team mentioned that the Omicron variant has contributed to slowing the global economic recovery but that the prospects for economic recovery are optimistic.
IAG is confident in the resumption of air transport. The airline group IAG, a parent company of British Airways and Iberia, mentions that its loss for the year 2021 decreased by almost 50%. According to Yahoo Finance, the improvement in its situation is mainly due to the resumption of global air transport during the second half of 2021. In 2020, IAG incurred a huge financial loss due to the covid-19 crisis, significantly affecting air and business travel. The IAG Group predicts that air transport will be back to its full growth level for the second half of 2022. It is assumed that no new variant would disrupt the economic forecast.
New production division for Ford. The American-based vehicle manufacturer Ford mentions the creation of a new division in its organizational chart. According to Ford's press release, the new division named Ford Model e will be devoted to developing electric cars. At the same time, Ford's other models will be under the division bearing the name Ford Blue. The rationale for its two new divisions is that the production and operations of traditional cars are quite different from the production of electric vehicles. So with two divisions and two separate teams, profitability should be improved and, therefore, all functions to provide better cars and trucks for Ford customers.
