MTR Corp has warned that the strong growth in the first six months of the year will not be repeated in the second half.
The semi-privatised utility - the controlling shareholder of controversial smart-card issuer Octopus - said yesterday underlying profit jumped 46.6 per cent to HK$5.72 billion, or HK$1 per share, in the first half amid the economic recovery and more sales of apartments.
However, chief executive Chow Chung-kong said there were still uncertainties surrounding the developed economies and the corporation's growth in the second half would taper off, partly because of a higher base of comparison last year.
Following the apology of MTR chairman Raymond Chien Kuo-fung last week on Octopus' sale of personal information of cardholders, Chow also attempted to ease public outrage yesterday.
He said the Octopus board was in talks to bring the company back onto the right track by focusing on its mainstay business as an electronic currency service provider.
'It has drifted away from its core business, which is supposedly an electronic currency platform,' he said. 'We are revising its business model so that it can meet its commercial targets while serving the public.'
