Belcher's boosts Shun Tak
Property and shipping conglomerate Shun Tak Holdings has posted a 134.49 per cent increase in net profit for last year largely due to sales of its residential project The Belcher's in Mid-Levels.
Net profit was HK$256.3 million on turnover of HK$2.88 billion, up 146.8 per cent from 1998.
A final dividend of five HK cents was declared, compared with three HK cents for the previous year.
The company said phase one of its 51 per cent-owned The Belcher's had been successfully launched in June last year.
Some analysts estimated a sales profit of less than HK$150 million had been booked from the phase-one development, completed in the first quarter of this year.
Shun Tak expected the 1,120-unit phase-two development, scheduled to complete in the middle of 2002, to be launched in the third quarter this year.
Its 64.56 per cent-owned Cheung Sha Wan shipyard redevelopment will be launched for pre-sale next year and will be finished in 2003. The firm has issued a US$70 million convertible bond to finance it.
In shipping, Shun Tak's passengers on the Hong Kong to Macau route fell by 8 per cent to 9.6 million last year but the company expected a rebound this year.
The company diversified last year with a US$10 million investment in the US$60 million Beijing Technology Development Fund. It also invested in Asia Travel Network, an Internet travel reservation services provider, and bio-technology firm Cell Works.
Shun Tak's partly-owned Melco International Development reported a net loss of HK$17 million to December 31, compared with a HK$12 million loss the previous year.
