CHINESE Estates Holdings saw a 7.2 per cent slide in net profit last year to $593.25 million because of interest charges incurred in buying back almost $1 billion of its own securities.
Chairman Joseph Lau Luen-hung said that in the year ended December 31 the company spent $932 million on repurchases of company securities, including 165 million shares.
He said interest charge also affected the results from $500 million of property redevelopment costs and $220 million of long-term investment in China.
The share buyback meant that basic earnings per share were flat, at 37 cents.
Fully diluted earnings per share rose 12.9 per cent to 35 cents because of the decrease in the dilution effect of outstanding warrants since the 1993 warrants were exercised, cancelled or lapsed, amounting to 181.15 million warrants worth $157 million, in cash paid, at the end of the year.
In a major reappraisal by Chesterton Petty of the group's property values, net asset value per share of the group soared 146.8 per cent to $14.12.
On yesterday's share close of $9.75, the company is on a historic price-earnings ratio of more than 27 and a discount to net asset value of 30.9 per cent.