HSBC Dividend Declaration

[idpickering]

Dear Shareholder

2018 THIRD INTERIM DIVIDEND

On 2 October 2018 your Directors declared a third interim dividend for 2018 of US$0.10 per ordinary share. This dividend is payable on 21 November 2018 to shareholders who are recorded on the Principal register, Hong Kong or Bermuda Overseas Branch registers on 12 October 2018 ('record date'). You have a choice of receiving this dividend in cash in three currencies (US dollars, Hong Kong dollars or sterling). You may also elect to receive it as a scrip dividend in the form of new shares.

SCRIP DIVIDEND

You can elect to receive new shares at a market value of US$8.2430 (£6.2718) instead of receiving the dividend in cash. If you elect to receive new shares, you will increase your shareholding without incurring dealing costs or stamp duty. The Company will also benefit by retaining cash which would otherwise be payable by way of the cash dividend. At the 2018 Annual General Meeting shareholders gave Directors authority to offer a scrip dividend scheme, which will apply to this third interim dividend for 2018. The appendix to this letter sets out further details of the scrip dividend.

Appendix

How is the scrip dividend calculated?

The scrip dividend is calculated using the average middle market closing price of HSBC Holdings plc ordinary shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange for the five business days beginning with the ex-dividend date of 11 October 2018. The market price is converted to US dollars (the "Market Value") using the exchange rates quoted by HSBC Bank plc in London at or about 11.00 am on 17 October 2018. For this dividend the scrip price is US$8.2430 (£6.2718).

The formula used for calculating your entitlement to new shares is as follows:

Number of shares held at the record date x cash dividend per share + any residual dividend entitlement brought forward = maximum dividend available for share election

Maximum dividend available= maximum number of new shares

Market Value (rounded down to the nearest whole number)

An online calculator to assist you in calculating your dividend entitlement is available at http://www.hsbc.com/dividends.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/hsbc-hold ... 01170241F/

[monabri]

Scrip Divi at £6.27 or buy on the market at £6.05!

[Gengulphus]

Scrip Divi at £6.27 on November 21st or buy on the market at £6.05 now - but who knows at what price on November 21st when the dividend money actually becomes available to buy shares with?

By the way, I haven't changed your figure of £6.05 despite the price having fallen a bit more this afternoon, because it needs trading costs added to it, whereas the scrip dividend price doesn't.

Gengulphus

[PLS1nve5t]

Are HSBC the least informative company when it comes to disseminating dividend info ?

Looking at their "dividend timetable" page - there is no mention of the $ to £ conversion date - it looks like you have to keep looking at the "dividend history" page, and wait for it to appear !!

Maybe there is an RNS ? but DividendMax is showing 7.703p for 21/11/18. I don't see why HSBC cannot publish this.

Someone please point it out if I'm missing something on the HSBC site - it just does my head in every quarter

[Dod101]

PLS

Just relax and enjoy; it will appear in due course.

Dod

[peterh]

Are HSBC the least informative company when it comes to disseminating dividend info ?

Looking at their "dividend timetable" page - there is no mention of the $ to £ conversion date - it looks like you have to keep looking at the "dividend history" page, and wait for it to appear !!

Maybe there is an RNS ? but DividendMax is showing 7.703p for 21/11/18. I don't see why HSBC cannot publish this.

Someone please point it out if I'm missing something on the HSBC site - it just does my head in every quarter

Exactly! However, according to the random notes on my spreadsheet, they seem to declare the exchange rate 7-10 days before the payment dates. Not as upfront as BP and RDSB who declare in USD and pay in sterling, but do tell you in advance when they'll announce the conversion rate.

[Arborbridge]

PLS

Just relax and enjoy; it will appear in due course.

Dod

I'm with Dod on this one. Were it not for mentions here, I wouldn't bother to even think about it: I just wait for it to happen. Actually, that's true of all my dividends.


Arb.

[Gengulphus]

Are HSBC the least informative company when it comes to disseminating dividend info ?

Looking at their "dividend timetable" page - there is no mention of the $ to £ conversion date - it looks like you have to keep looking at the "dividend history" page, and wait for it to appear !!

Maybe there is an RNS ? ...

Yes - see https://www.hsbc.com/investor-relations ... ouncements, specifically the line "2 Oct 2018 HSBC Holdings plc - Third interim dividend for 2018 (2-page PDF 78KB)". Load that PDF and you'll find it starts (with my bold):

On 2 October 2018, the Directors declared a third interim dividend in respect of 2018 of $0.10 per ordinary share. The ordinary shares in London, Hong Kong, Paris and Bermuda and the American Depositary Shares (‘ADSs’) in New York will be quoted ex-dividend on 11 October 2018. The dividend will be payable on 21 November 2018 to holders of record on 12 October 2018.

The dividend will be payable in US dollars, sterling or Hong Kong dollars, or a combination of these currencies, at the forward exchange rates quoted by HSBC Bank plc in London at or about 11.00am on 12 November 2018. A scrip dividend will also be offered. Particulars of these arrangements will be sent to shareholders on or about 24 October 2018 and elections must be received by 8 November 2018.

So they have mentioned the dividend conversion date - and clearly they cannot give the sterling (or Hong Kong dollar) amount of the payment until they've actually done the currency conversion.

(Edit: The link above is one on the HSBC website, but I would normally (and IMHO more conveniently) find it via Investegate - on there, it's https://www.investegate.co.uk/hsbc-hold ... 30026770C/)

... but DividendMax is showing 7.703p for 21/11/18. I don't see why HSBC cannot publish this.

DividendMax's figure will be a guess, probably based on converting the $0.10 amount to sterling at the current exchange rate when their web page is generated. HSBC is subject to regulatory requirements to give their shareholders accurate information, not guesses - unless carefully labelled as guesses, with the basis of the guess carefully explained. And even if they were to do that, their investor relations department would probably get a whole lot of complaints from shareholders who read the figure but overlooked/ignored the 'small print' and found that the 'wrong amount' subsequently arrived in their bank accounts...

In short, DividendMax enjoys a luxury of being able to guess wrongly, that the company itself doesn't...

Gengulphus