Swire Properties sees no sign of turnaround in Hong Kong retail market as its interim core profit falls 9.6pc
Swire Properties says Hong Kong’s retail market shows no signs of a major turnaround as the owner of The Mall at Pacific Place and Cityplaza in Quarry Bay reported a 9.6 per cent year on year fall in core earnings for the first half this year.
Swire Properties chief executive Guy Bradley said it was hard to say at what stage the retail market was at the moment. “It is still tough. We have not seen any particular sign of a major turnaround,” he said after the firm’s interim results announcement.
On Thursday Swire Properties announced underlying profit, excluding revaluation gains in investment properties, fell 9.6 per cent to HK$3.55 billion for the six month to June due to a sharp fall in luxury property sales in Hong Kong.
Despite mainland developers bidding up land prices recently, Bradley said there were no change in the firm’s appetite for land acquisition.
“It is true that in the recent couple of years, competition in the [government land] auction from mainland companies has increased. But if we found something very attractive, we will continue to bid as aggressively as we can,” he said.
For the six months to June 30, operating profit from property trading, mainly contributed from Hong Kong and Miami, United States, dropped 48.78 per cent to HK$525 million in the first half, from HK$1.02 billion a year ago, the developer said.
Pacific Place retail sales underperformed the market further in the second quarter, partly because of the tenant reshuffling programme, in which more food and beverage tenants were added
“In Hong Kong, property buyers are cautious in light of the slowing Hong Kong economy. In