Power utility CLP Holdings expects growth in underlying profit in the second half of the year, even though margins on its home turf Hong Kong will be slashed as soon as October.
The company said yesterday that underlying earnings increased 5.4 per cent to HK$5.25 billion in the first six months of the year, driven by 7.6 per cent growth in core electricity supply in Hong Kong.
Attributable profit declined 8.5 per cent to HK$5.61 billion after taking into account a HK$423 million one-off gain from the sale of the SEA Gas Pipeline and a HK$67 million provision for coal-mine subsidence next to the group's Yallourn power plant in Australia.
The comparative figure in the previous period was enlarged by numerous one-off gains from asset reorganisation and tax write-backs.
The group's Australian energy flagship, TRUenergy, performed 'not as well as the management had hoped' on lower forward electricity prices while skyrocketing coal costs hammered its power plants on the mainland.
'Operating profit went up 5.4 per cent in the first half, and we expect a similar performance in the second half of this year,' CLP chief executive Andrew Brandler said.