The shares plunged by the most since 2017 after buybacks were shelved for two years and the executives themselves said more bad news was still to come — once they assess the economic damage wrought by the novel coronavirus.

In the overhaul announced on Tuesday, HSBC will slash about 35,000 staff — 15% of the total — and take $7.3 billion of charges, while it doubles down on Asia, source of most of the bank’s profit, and cuts operations in the U.S. and Europe. Left hanging was interim Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn as Tucker and the board consider a permanent appointment.

“I wish we hadn’t had HSBC shares this morning,” said Alan Beaney, CEO at RC Brown Investment Management. “I am not quite sure why Quinn has not been named CEO now given they have allowed him to cut 35,000 jobs and make a number of strategic decisions. It does not make sense to me.”

HSBC Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson said the bank would be “ruthless” in executing its plan — the giant’s third strategic overhaul in a decade — but he has an uphill struggle persuading shareholders. “The board are asking the market to take an enormous amount on trust,” said analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, the specialist financial-services broker.

London-traded shares in HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, tumbled as much as 7%, wiping out its gain so far in 2020.

While Tucker is returning the bank — founded in 1865 as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. — to its roots with the sharpened focus on Asia, analysts noted the shortage of detail on how it plans to grow there.

For bank strategists, there might be a case of déjà vu: a 2018 plan by Quinn’s predecessor, John Flint, fell flat on arrival. Flint was fired 13 months later. Tucker, who was hired in 2017 to revive growth at the sprawling lender, is still struggling to answer investors’ question of why a bank with such a strong hold in some of the world’s fastest-growing economies has been unable to produce a better return.

The latest plan envisages cuts to underperforming businesses and regions, in particular HSBC’s global banking and markets unit, which houses its investment bank. The bank has said it will reallocate $100 billion of risk-weighted assets to areas where it can make more money. The job cuts will put total staff at about 200,000.

“Parts of our business are not delivering acceptable returns,” Quinn said.

By 2022, HSBC will increase risk-weighted assets devoted to Asia to 50% from about 42%.

The fresh strategy makes sense, but is “on the conservative side,” Alan Higgins, chief investment officer of Coutts & Co., said on Bloomberg television.

The main points of today’s earnings report include:

– HSBC’s adjusted pretax profit of $22.2 billion beat estimates, despite the multi-billion dollar charge for the restructuring. HSBC had been forecast to report adjusted pretax profit of $21.8 billion, according to analysts.

– The bank plans gross asset reduction of more than $100 billion by the end of 2022, and a lowered cost base of $31 billion or less by 2022.

– Consumer banking and private banking will be merged into a single wealth platform.

– Global banking and commercial banking middle and back offices to be combined.

– Geographic reporting lines will fall from seven to four.

“We are intending to exit a lot of domestically focused customers in Europe and the U.S. on the global banking side,” Stevenson said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Execution aside, the unknown remains the impact of the coronavirus. Stevenson estimated possible losses in the first-quarter of 2020 at between $200 million and $500 million. Executives said on a conference call that the loan book has shown “great resilience” so far in the face of the outbreak.

“While reduced capital allocation to low-return businesses is a positive, we expect weaker profitability in what have traditionally been strong markets, primarily Hong Kong,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote, maintaining their underweight rating on HSBC.

Comparable-store sales, a key retail metric, increased 1.9% for U.S. Walmart stores in the holiday period, compared with the 2.4% average estimate compiled by Consensus Metrix. While the retailer said demand was soft in the weeks leading up to Christmas, its forecast generally pleased investors — especially its expectation that U.S. e-commerce losses could lessen this year.

“Walmart remains in a good place,” Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail said in a note. “Although Walmart’s growth rate softened in the final quarter, the results are nonetheless respectable.”

Walmart’s lackluster holiday results followed a similarly dour performance from Target. The U.S. retail sector is broadly grappling with store closures, bankruptcies and increasing uncertainty from China’s coronavirus, which has disrupted sales and supply chains at global giants including Apple. The outbreak’s impact hasn’t been included in Walmart’s full-year guidance, but could lower first-quarter earnings by a couple of cents per share, Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said.

“We don’t know what will happen next” in China, Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said, adding that most stores are operating with reduced hours and delivery expenses have increased. “There are so many moving parts right now.”

In its home market, where Walmart generates the lion’s share of its sales and profit, the subpar holiday was due to weakness in apparel, toys and gaming, Biggs said in an interview, reasons also cited by Target. In apparel, it carried too much seasonal merchandise, he said. Gross profit margins also declined in the quarter due in part to changes in employee pay incentives that were a bigger factor than anticipated as fewer workers skipped shifts during the season.

“There were a number of things that were market-related but some of it was on us,” Biggs said, adding that there was “not a lot of newness” in departments like toys and video games.

Walmart shares were little changed at 9:42 a.m. on Tuesday, wavering between gains and losses. Over the past 12 months, the retailer’s shares have trailed those of rivals Dollar General, Costco and Target.

This is a make-or-break year for the world’s largest retailer, which has made massive investment under McMillon to lower prices, expand its e-commerce operations and enhance employee wages and benefits. Now, shareholders want to see a return from all that spending, particularly at its U.S. online division, which needs to find a path to profitability as it battles Amazon.com Inc. The e-commerce giant accounted for 40% of all U.S. retail sales growth in the fourth quarter, according to Evercore ISI analyst Greg Melich.

Biggs said domestic e-commerce losses were “higher than expected” last year, but will level off or decline in 2020, with details coming during presentations to investors in New York this morning. Walmart’s web sales in the U.S. rose 35% in the fourth quarter. It sees e-commerce growth at 30% this year — a sign the area is slowing some after years of expansion.

The retailer’s curbside grocery pickup service has fueled most of those gains, providing a bulwark against encroachment from Amazon.com Inc., but Walmart now needs to find a new pillar of growth online as the click-and-collect service is now available at 3,200 stores.

Walmart also enters 2020 with a new leadership team under McMillon, including U.S. CEO John Furner, Sam’s Club CEO Kathryn McLay and Chief Merchandising Officer Scott McCall. The reshuffle could lead to changes in strategy or execution, Jefferies analyst Christopher Mandeville said in a note.

“The American consumer is still reasonably confident,” GlobalData’s Saunders said. “Confidence and spending power are there, however, retailers need to work much harder if they want to tap into them.”

In an era when traditional stock-pickers are under intensifying pressure, San Mateo, California-based Franklin agreed to buy Legg Mason to create a firm with a combined $1.5 trillion in assets.

The deal, valued at nearly $4.5 billion, shows how much the fund industry has transformed since the two companies were founded — Franklin started in 1947 and Legg Mason’s precursor firm began in 1899. Customers are focusing more than ever on costs for money management, and a few large index fund managers dominate the field in managed assets globally.

Merger activity in the asset management world has been increasing in recent years. Invesco bought OppenheimerFunds from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. in 2018, while both Janus Henderson Group and Standard Life Aberdeen were formed in mergers in 2017. In the brokerage sector, Charles Schwab Corp. agreed to buy TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. for about $26 billion in November.

The announcement comes less than a year after activist investor Trian Fund Management took a 4.5% stake in Legg Mason, enough to secure its founder Nelson Peltz a position on the board.

Just days later, the fund manager said it would cut about 12% of its staff and reduce its executive committee to four from eight members. Peltz said at the time his three top priorities were “significantly reducing costs, driving revenue growth organically and through acquisition, and increasing profitability.”

Tuesday’s announced transaction values Legg Mason at $50 per share, a 23% premium to the Baltimore-based company’s share price Friday. Franklin will assume about $2 billion in Legg Mason debt, according to the statement.

“This is a landmark acquisition for our organization that unlocks substantial value and growth opportunities driven by greater scale, diversity and balance across investment strategies, distribution channels and geographies,” Greg Johnson, executive chairman of the board of Franklin Resources, said in a statement.

The deal could help address areas where Franklin has gaps, Wells Fargo Securities analysts led by Christopher Harris said in a note. They mentioned fixed income and alternatives.

Over the past decade, U.S. equity index mutual funds and ETFs have taken in about $1.6 trillion, while their active counterparts lost approximately $1.4 trillion, according to data from the Investment Company Institute and Bloomberg Intelligence.

The flood of money out of active and into passive funds has sent fees grinding lower, led to thousands of job cuts and forced large-scale consolidation.

Among other changes, Banco de Sabadell agreed in January to sell its asset-management business to Amundi for 430 million euros ($466 million), while GAM Holding considered a sale of the company last year.

On Monday, Jupiter Fund Management Plc agreed to acquire rival U.K. asset manager Merian Global Investors.

Throughout the years, employees have been trained to become poultry welfare officers , giving advice to chicken farms in Thailand and all countries CPF has invested in. To date, their coverage is 100 per cent.

Regarding layer poultry farming, the cage free approach first adopted in Thailand, has shown satisfactory result.

Meanwhile, all sow breeding farms in Thailand will adopt group housing in 2025 while farms overseas will switch to group-pen in 2028. Also, swine health and welfare training is underway to raise sustainable awareness in the company’s farms as well as those of contracted farmers, he said.

At CPF, the animal welfare policy is exercised along with the policy on responsible use of antibiotics, adhering to humanitarian and animal welfare principles. Sick animals are treated according to their symptoms and protected against diseases for good physical and mental health, a practice widely adopted in Thailand and many countries.

Payungsak noted that CPF has transferred farming knowledge to chicken and swine farmers in its network, to ensure their understanding in animal welfare and compliance with international requirements . Such knowledge covers farming method, transportation, capturing and processing.

CPF’s chicken farms focus on high quality, healthy and meaty chicken, a product of years of development. Chicken are raised in closed barns, kept cool by evaporative cooling system and equipped with computerised water and food-feeding system. Under the cage-free techniques, the chicken can roam freely.

CPF has also adopted cage-free egg production, whereby hens move freely in closed air-conditioned barns. As guided by the Bio Security Hi-Tech Farming technique, the hens enjoy comfortable and hygienic conditions as well as sufficient food and water.

All swine farms now have EVAP (evaporative) buildings. Farrowing crates for sows are now replaced by group housing to ensure comfort in a good environment.

Payungsak asserted that comfortable environment, protection against diseases and nutritious food keep the animals healthy and strong. Without stress and diseases, they do not need growth hormones and antibiotics, and this guarantees the safety and quality of CPF’s food products that have been delivered to consumers across the world.

Deployment of the 5G network on its 700MHz band is planned for the second half of 2020, he said.

Dtac chief technology officer Prathet Tankuranun said the firm did not acquire the 26GHz band just for keeps but will definitely use it to provide better service experience to customers.

The planned 5G services on 26GHz include the fixed-wireless broadband access service for end-users.

In the multiband auction held last Sunday (February 16), dtac TriNet, a subsidiary of dtac, acquired 200 MHz of 26GHz by proposing Bt910 million.

Mehrotra said the addition of the 26GHz high-band spectrum to dtac’s portfolio, which already includes mid and low bands, will allow it to provide high-quality data experience that will be critical to future networks.

DTAC has held the 900MHz, 700MHz, 2100MHz, 1800MHz bands, and just clinched 26GHz from last week’s auction. It has partnered with TOT to provide a 4G wireless broadband service on the state agency’s 2300MHz band.

“With the acquisition of 26GHz spectrum and the continued development of our mid-band holdings, we are determined to bring new technologies and a better data experience for the many, not for the few,” Mehrotra said.

“Dtac’s strong performance in 2019 gives us confidence to continue our efforts to improve customers’ experience through a better network and more personalised offers. We will be stepping up our digitisation efforts to simplify customer journeys and transform our organisation to respond more quickly and effectively to customers’ needs. Dtac will never stop improving our services and readying our organisation for the future,” Mehrotra promised.

In addition to introducing 5G technology, dtac will significantly boost its existing network to give all customers improved coverage and up to three times higher data capacity.

The company will also increase the number of the 2300MHz cell sites to more than 20,000 by the year-end, up from around 17,400 at end of 2019.

Dtac has also upgraded its workforce skills to enhance its business operations. In 2019, the company upskilled 25 per cent of employees working in critical areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics and business intelligence. In partnership with expert programs from Telenor Group, dtac aims to double that figure to 50 per cent in 2020.

The firm has set capital expenditure between Bt13 billion and Bt15 billion this year.

Five bidders took part in the much-awaited multiband auction on February 16. They are Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) of Advanced Info Service (AIS), dtac TriNet, TrueMove H Universal Communication (TUC) of True Corp, CAT Telecom, and TOT.

AWN secured the most licences. It offered more than Bt17.154 billion to win one 700MHz licence, more than Bt19.56 billion to win 10 licences in the 2600MHz spectrum and Bt5.345 billion to win 12 26GHz licences.

CAT proposed Bt34.306 billion to clinch two 700MHz licences.

TUC offered Bt17.873 billion to win nine licences of 2600MHz and Bt3.577 billion to bag eight licences of 26GHz. TOT offered Bt1.795 billion to grab four licences of 26GHz.

AIS and True will hold a press conference to announce their 5G business plans on Wednesday (February 19) and Thursday (February 20), respectively.

This resulted in the decrease of THAI’s holding in NOK to 13.28 per cent from 15.94 per cent, according to its filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Tuesday (February 17).

Nok offered the newly issued ordinary shares to existing shareholders in proportion to their respective shareholding (right offering) at price of Bt2.50 per share at the allocation ratio of 3.5 existing shares to 1 newly issued share.

On February 14, NOK reported a subscription result to the SET which showed 620,670,967 shares subscribed with 267,476,391 remaining shares.

The company said the iPhone, which generates the bulk of Apple’s revenue, is temporarily constrained due to production ramping up more slowly than anticipated. “Work is starting to resume around the country, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated,” the company said in a statement Monday. In addition, demand for iPhones has been reduced because stores in China have been closed or operating with reduced hours and few customers, the company said.

Apple had forecast revenue of $63 billion to $67 billion for the fiscal second quarter ending in March. Analysts on average estimated $65.23 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company said when it announced its guidance in January that it anticipated factories reopening beginning Feb. 10. That process has been slow as factory workers and manufacturing partners look to contain the virus, which has resulted in about 1,800 reported deaths in China, from spreading further.

“This is the double-edged sword of being in China,” said longtime Apple analyst and Loup Ventures co-founder Gene Munster. “They’re the only big company with China exposure, so they are working through the pain of what has largely been a success for the company over the past decade.” The Cupertino, California-based technology giant said that, outside of China, products and services sales have been “strong to date and in line with our expectations.”

Apple didn’t say what its new revenue outlook is for March but that situation is “evolving.” The company said it will share more information during its April earnings call.

Apple had been planning to start producing a new low-cost iPhone in February, putting it up for sale as early as March, Bloomberg News has reported. It’s unclear how coronavirus has affected those plans.

The company said that despite missing its guidance, all of its manufacturing sites for iPhones in the region have reopened. In addition to iPhone constraints, the company cited its inability to sell products at its retail and partner stores in China due to the virus. China represents Apple’s third-biggest market in terms of revenue and has 42 stores, which have have been closed for much of February.

“Stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic,” Apple said in its statement. “We are gradually reopening our retail stores and will continue to do so as steadily and safely as we can.” Apple said its contact centers and corporate offices in China have already reopened. It has opened a few stores in China, including in Beijing and Shanghai, but with limited operating hours.

Rinjai Chakornpipat, TFEX managing director said: “from February 24 onwards, the company will change the night trading session from 7pm to 11.55pm to 8.50pm to 3am of the next day. We believe the new schedule will allow investors to adjust their trading strategy and risk management in time before the start of trading in overseas markets ”.

“This new schedule will cover all products whose prices are tied to gold, including gold futures, gold online futures and gold-D,” she added.

In 2019, gold futures were responsible for 7 per cent of total TFEX’s trading volume, increasing from 4 per cent the previous year. In January 2020, gold futures created over 38,000 trading contracts per day on average, a 192 per cent increase year on year. “Trading of gold futures has become increasingly popular, given the current global economic situations, especially gold online futures,” she added.

For future information on trading hours, visit www.TFEX.co.th or contact 0-2009-9999.

BTS Group earned a net profit of Bt2.46 billion, mainly through improved performances in its mass transit and media businesses as well as a higher share of net profit from its associate, U City Pcl, and gains of Bt1.118 million from the sale of land in Mo Chit.

The recurring net profit also soared by 143 per cent YoY to Bt2.37 billion, the company said.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2019-20, total operating revenue was Bt11 billion. The mass transit business was the main contributor, accounting for 78 per cent of revenue. Operating and maintenance (O&M) revenue rose by 67 per cent YoY to Bt942 million, principally driven by the opening of the Southern Green Line extension (Bearing-Kheha) in December 2018.

On the media side, VGI Group again achieved the highest quarterly revenue and net profit. VGI reported a 25 per cent increase in quarterly revenue of Bt1.867 billion, an all-time high, largely driven by the growth in all media segments, as well as additional revenue from online advertising, under VGI Digital Lab. This was also reflected in VGI’s net profit, which expanded by 30 per cent YoY to Bt401 million.

BTS Group’s rail mass transit network expansion continues, with significant progress on the Northern Green Line expansion. Ha Yaek Lat Prao station opened in August 2019 and four additional stations commenced operations on December 4, 2019, the company said. Four more stations are expected to open in June 2020 and full operation of the Northern Green Line extension (with a total of 16 stations) is anticipated by this year. These recently opened and upcoming stations will lead to strong growth in O&M revenue in forthcoming quarters.

On the Media side, the acquisition of Hello Bangkok LED Co Ltd by Master Ad Pcl (Maco) provides a clearer function for domestic media asset management. VGI will continue to focus on strengthening its offline-to-online solutions, as well as enhance synergies across its subsidiaries and associate companies. Maco will focus on international expansion and on being the proprietor of outdoor domestic assets; its domestic media assets will be managed by Plan B Media Pcl (PlanB), the BTS Group said. It is anticipated that synergies across VGI Group’s subsidiaries and associate companies will be enhanced as a result of workforce integration, which should lead to potential cost reductions and attractive development opportunities in the future.

Kavin Kanjanapas, chief executive officer of BTS Group, elaborated: “Aside from these strong financial results, we are investing in our long-term future in complementary sectors. We are open to invest in opportunities that enable us to create synergy around our existing platform, with driven partners who have operational expertise.”

In recent years, BTS Group has been exploring partnerships and projects across the transportation, infrastructure, media, payment, retail and logistics sectors. Most recently, consortiums comprising BTS Group were named as the best bidders of two Intercity Motorway projects and U Tapao International Airport.

In line with the company’s vision “to provide sustainable ‘City Solutions’ that strive to improve the city, community, and its way of life”, BTS Group has been recognised for its sustainability efforts by leading institutions around the world. In this quarter, BTS Group won The Asset Triple A Sustainable Capital Markets Regional Awards 2019 under the category “Best Green Bond” deal in the transportation and infrastructure sector and received the “RobecoSAM’s Silver Class distinction” in the Sustainability Yearbook 2020. “These awards are recognition of our genuine focus on sustainability development, which we firmly believe will ultimately create long-term positive impact for our stakeholders,” Kavin said.

Global boutique banks advised on the fewest number of deals last year since 2016, and their share of the deal pool fell to their lowest point since 2013, based on the number of transactions they worked on, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, which tracked deal participation by 248 boutiques. That led to the first annual decline in advisory revenue for the six biggest U.S. boutique firms since 2011.

They’re losing ground at a potentially perilous time. Dealmakers are forecasting a slump in M&A activity this year and bulge-bracket firms are increasingly encroaching on their turf by chasing smaller clients in the middle market.

Boutiques largely don’t have as many sources of revenue as full-service firms such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, which provide financing and other banking services. Their playbook is simpler: they rely on star rainmakers to sell M&A advice in specialized industries.

In the U.S., the six biggest by market capitalization are Lazard, Evercore, Houlihan Lokey, PJT Partners, Moelis & Co. and Greenhill & Co. As a group, they generated $6.2 billion in revenue for advising on deals last year, a 2.2% drop from the previous year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. PJT Partners and Houlihan Lokey bucked that trend. PJT’s advisory revenue rose 27% year-over-year while Houlihan’s gained 13%.

There are signs that some boutiques may be starting to feel the pinch.

Evercore, the highest-ranking boutique on the league tables, in January said it will reduce about 6% of its headcount, with cuts affecting more than 100 workers. The firm said the moves were aimed at giving it “greater flexibility of operations and better position itself for future growth.”

Perella Weinberg Partners, another boutique, has put on hold its plan to go public, with top bankers at the firm concerned about volatile markets for boutique financial stocks, Bloomberg News reported in November.

Nearly a dozen dealmakers have also left boutiques for bulge-bracket firms in the past six months — a reversal of the trend over the last several years. Among the most high-profile were Amy Lissauer’s move from Evercore to Bank of America to lead its global M&A-activist and raid-defense advisory practice. HSBC Holdings has hired Nabil Lahham, a former veteran Middle East dealmaker at Perella Weinberg, people familiar with the matter said this week.

The moves beg the question: are boutiques getting too big for their own good? As they’ve bulked up and increasingly landed roles on more of the biggest M&A transactions, some clients and observers worry they’re losing some of what made them an attractive alternative to big banks.

“They’ve floated up to something that’s in between a boutique and a bulge-bracket firm,” said Erik Gordon, a lawyer and business professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “Sometimes I wonder how boutiquey they actually are. Where your proposition is being small — whether it means personal attention, exclusivity, lack of conflicts — it’s sustainable only if you stay small.”

In one case, Evercore had to pass up a role advising LVMH on its $16.2 billion deal for Tiffany & Co. due to a conflict of interest, according to a person familiar with the matter. That’s because Evercore’s William Shutzer sits on Tiffany’s board, said the person, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. A representative for Evercore declined to comment.

As competition for fees has intensified, some boutiques have also ventured into new sectors. Houlihan Lokey, a Los Angeles-based firm with a strong restructuring group, has been expanding globally. In January, the firm said it had hired a banker to spearhead a new equity capital markets practice in Europe.

To be sure, some of the firms gained share last year. PJT Partners was ranked a top 10 M&A adviser for the first time since going public after it co-advised AbbVie Inc. on its $63 billion deal for rival drugmaker Allergan Plc. The firm jumped to ninth place from fifteenth the year before, according to Bloomberg data.

Evercore’s Peter Bundage, a senior managing director and head of the bank’s Dallas office, says he thinks boutiques are well-positioned to take advantage of what he expects to be a strong M&A market this year.

“There will continue to be a very, very strong niche that corporate America is going to value that the independents bring,” Bundage said in an interview Thursday. “I think these big firms do it very well, very professionally, but at the same time they do want truly independent advice that’s not tied into many of the other services that they’re selling.”

Some analysts dispute the notion that boutiques can get too big.

Scale isn’t necessarily an impediment for firms such as Lazard and Rothschild & Co. that historically have been broadly focused, according to Brennan Hawken, an analyst with UBS AG.

“To me, this idea that boards really want independence; No, they don’t,” he said. “Boards want good advice and they’re gonna hire the firms that deliver the best advice. It’s just that simple.”