SCMP Group, the publisher of the South China Morning Post, yesterday issued a warning that its profit would be adversely affected by the outbreak of Sars. The group said subscription sales of the South China Morning Post and the Sunday Morning Post to hotels and airlines had fallen 'significantly' and that advertising revenue for the period from April 1 to May 11 was down about 30 per cent compared with the same period last year. Management said it could not quantify the potential impact on the results for the first half of the year, but it was taking 'active measures' to cut expenditure and control costs. Shui On Construction's balance of advances rises Shui On Construction and Materials said the aggregate balance of the advances provided to a jointly controlled cement unit TH Industrial Management rose to HK$554 million as of April 30. This represented about 44 per cent of the unaudited net assets value of HK$1.25 billion as at September 30 last year. In the six months to September 30, total advances to TH Industrial Management were HK$356 million, representing 27.7 per cent of its net assets. The increment exceeded 10 per cent of the group's unaudited net assets and it was required to disclose it under the Hong Kong exchange rules. Lee's Pharmaceutical posts HK$1.7m loss Growth Enterprise Market-listed Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings posted a loss of HK$1.7 million from operations in the first quarter ended March. The group's unaudited consolidated turnover for the three months was HK$3.2 million, representing a 22.6 per cent increase from the same period last year. Sino Hotels claims Sars will damage gains Sino Hotels (Holdings) says its results are expected to be adversely affected by the widespread impact of the Sars outbreak in Hong Kong. The company said it had seen a significant decline in occupancy rates of its hotels compared with the same period last year and would continue to make efforts to reduce costs and expenditure. It said shareholders and investors should exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the company. Hudson Holdings postpone results again Hudson Holdings announced a further postponement in releasing the audited final results for the year ended December 31. On April 20, the construction firm said its financial results would be postponed to May 26 as the Sars outbreak adversely affected auditing work in Wuhan where the company has its core business operations. Hudson said the results would now be postponed to June 27 and the annual report was expected to be despatched to shareholders on or around June 30. Listing rules require that all firms whose financial year ends on December 31 must provide their annual report to shareholders before April 30. Subsidiary raises stake in Lippo China Resources Lippo China Resources said a wholly-owned subsidiary of its parent firm Lippo Ltd has acquired 12.69 million shares for HK$1.25 million on the market yesterday from independent third parties. Such an acquisition represents about 0.14 per cent of the issued share capital of the company. Non-exec director quits Pacific Concord Property developer Pacific Concord Holding said yesterday Herbert Hui Ho-ming had resigned as an independent non-executive director with effect from yesterday and Cheung Chuen-ying had been appointed in his place.
