New | Chinese Estates profit down 42.5pc
Chinese Estates Holdings posted a 42.5 per cent fall in first-half core profit to HK$1 billion due to a sharp decline in property sales.
Net profit, including property revaluation gains, dropped 45.19 per cent to HK$2.45 billion.
The company had not completed a development in the first half of the year, which meant no significant profit was recorded, chairman Lau Ming-wai said in the results announcement filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
Lau was appointed chairman in March when his father, Joseph Lau Luen-hung, resigned from the post after being convicted in Macau of bribing officials and money laundering. An appeal against the verdict, filed by Joseph Lau, had been accepted by the Court of First Instance of Macau, the company said in March.
Despite the decline in profit, Chinese Estates says it is optimistic about the future, anticipating a stable office market and positive rental growth from shopping malls such as Windsor House in Causeway Bay and Silvercord in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Directors declared an interim dividend of 30 HK cents, against 20 HK cents previously. No special dividend was announced, compared with HK$1.30 a share in the first half of last year.
The company’s net-debt-to-equity ratio was 29.9 per cent, against 39.9 per cent at the end of last year.
