Henderson Land Development vice-chairman Colin Lam Ko-yin indicated yesterday the group would probably make provisions for its property and securities investments when it announces its final results next month.
Mr Lam said Henderson Land and its subsidiary Henderson Investment would conduct a revaluation of all its development sites as well as its stock portfolio to see whether it required provisions against any fall in value.
Analysts said Henderson Land would make provisions of about $1.4 billion against its investment in a Tai Po residential site for the year to June 30.
For Henderson Investment, Mr Lam said China Telecom (Hong Kong) was a large stock investment in the company's equity portfolio.
The share price of China Telecom had rebounded to close to its purchase price of $11.8, he said after an extraordinary general meeting of Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings) of which Henderson Land is the ultimate parent.
Hong Kong Ferry obtained approval from shareholders at yesterday's meeting to transfer two sites in Tai Kok Tsui and Tsing Yi to a wholly owned subsidiary to streamline its corporate structure.
Mr Lam, who is also chairman of Hong Kong Ferry, said the future ferry operator might be forced to cut financially non-viable routes if the ferry business did not receive a subsidy from the proposed Central pier property redevelopment.