Housing.com News, Analysis & Opinion: Credit & Debt: Housing Slump Hits HSBC, Toll Brothers

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, said Bobby Mehta stepped down as head of the North American unit after the lender raised its forecast for bad loans in the U.S...``Mehta was the guy charged with driving the growth of Household into mortgages, and that has been the source of disappointment,'' said Simon Maughan, a London-based analyst at Blue Oak Capital Ltd., who doesn't have a rating on the stock. ``So he's the guy who has to fall on his sword.''

Let's hope Mehta's desire for "more entrepreneurial interests" include taking some basic math, accounting and finance courses. I wouldn't want that guy anywhere near my portfolio, that's for sure.

Luxury-home builder Toll Brothers Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter profit dropped 67 percent due to hefty writedowns and other costs, and Chief Executive Robert Toll said many markets were still soft...The latest quarter's results include a goodwill impairment charge of $9 million related to Toll's 1999 acquisition of the Silverman Cos. in Detroit. Earnings also were hurt by $96.9 million in costs to write down the value of land and housing stock the company no longer believes it can sell at a profit, versus writedowns of just $1.1 million in the prior-year period.

A one-year cost increase of $95 million? That's not a moon, that's a space station! Unbelievable. Not terribly surprising, but unbelievable, nonetheless.

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British bank HSBC blamed failures in the U.S. subprime market for bad earnings, and now they're offering up a few sacrificial lambs: HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, said Bobby Mehta stepped down as head of the North American unit after the lender raised its forecast for bad loans in the U.S...``Mehta was the guy charged with driving the growth of Household into mortgages, and that has been the source of disappointment,'' said Simon Maughan, a London-based analyst at Blue Oak Capital Ltd., who doesn't have a rating on the stock. ``So he's the guy who has to fall on his sword.'' Let's hope Mehta's desire for "more entrepreneurial interests" include taking some basic math, accounting and finance courses. I wouldn't want that guy anywhere near my portfolio, that's for sure. Meanwhile, Toll Brothers, a veritable bellwether of housing doom, has gotten slapped by the market yet again: Luxury-home builder Toll Brothers Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter profit dropped 67 percent due to hefty writedowns and other costs, and Chief Executive Robert Toll said many markets were still soft...The latest quarter's results include a goodwill impairment charge of $9 million related to Toll's 1999 acquisition of the Silverman Cos. in Detroit. Earnings also were hurt by $96.9 million in costs to write down the value of land and housing stock the company no longer believes it can sell at a profit, versus writedowns of just $1.1 million in the prior-year period. A one-year cost increase of $95 million? That's not a moon, that's a space station! Unbelievable. Not terribly surprising, but unbelievable, nonetheless.