Chinese Estates Holdings booked a big property revaluation loss last year, leading to a net loss of HK$8.86 billion during the period.
The real estate investment holding company said it wrote the fair value of its investment properties down by HK$10.83 billion as at December 31 following a revaluation of its property portfolio, compared with a valuation gain of HK$8.61 billion recorded in 2009.
The big write-down followed the sale by the company of various retail properties and shopping malls in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai to chairman Joseph Lau Luen-hung last year, at a time when retail rents were rising and the market outlook was positive.
The resulting net loss of HK$8.86 billion for last year followed a net profit of HK$10.02 billion in 2009.
Excluding the property revaluation loss, underlying profit grew 33.4 per cent from HK$1.42 billion to HK$1.89 billion. Revenue was up 24.2 per cent to HK$2.67 billion.
The developer recognised a profit of HK$408.9 million from property sales last year, 389 per cent more than the HK$83.6 million in the previous year. The profit was generated from the sales of MOD 595 in Mong Kok, i-home in Tai Kok Tsui, phase one of Splendid City in Chengdu and York Place in Wan Chai.