Wheelock and Co announces 525 per cent increase in interim dividend

Property and logistics conglomerate Wheelock and Co will reward shareholders with an interim dividend for the six months to June of 25 HK cents per share on net profit that was up 33 per cent to HK$13.57 billion.

The dividend was up 525 per cent on the dividend of 4 HK cents declared for the first half of last year.

Deputy chairman Stephen Ng Tin-hoi said the big increase in the dividend was partly due to a change in the company's dividend payout policy. Ng said the payout ratio - the percentage of earnings distributed as dividends to shareholders - had been below 10 per cent since 2003.

Directors now hoped to increase the ratio, he said, although the size of the increment was not yet finalised.

Meanwhile, Ng said the company had formerly declared a smaller dividend in the first half and a bigger payout in the second half, and it would now seek to narrow the difference between the two.

His comments came at a conference to announce Wheelock's interim profit result, which showed a 43 per cent jump in turnover to HK$19.71 billion in the first half. The major profit contributor was 51.06 per cent owned Wharf (Holdings), which on Thursday announced a HK$5.43 billion first-half net profit, an increase of 49 per cent.