Kerry Properties says it plans to develop a residential-office project in Shenzhen's special economic zone at a total investment cost of six billion yuan (HK$7.47 billion) after the developer reported underlying profit dipped 1 per cent to HK$4.38 billion last year while turnover saw a year-on-year 5 per cent increase to HK$14.66 billion.
Kerry Properties net profit, including revaluation gains on investment properties, fell 49 per cent to HK$6.77 billion last year from HK$13.15 billion in 2013. The firm said the fall was mainly due to a smaller increase in fair value of investment properties and the absence of the one-off gain of HK$4.32 billion arising from the spin-off of Kerry Logistics Network recorded last year.
Kerry co-managing director Alfred Qian said the Qianhai development site could yield 2.1 million square feet and the construction work would possibly begin this year.
"We see vast development potential in Qianhai," he said.
Kerry Properties bought a 350,000 square-foot site in Qianhai for 3.9 billion yuan in January.
Chief financial officer Louis Wong said the firm's sales target for this year would not be less than HK$12 billion. "This year, the sales target will be equally spilt between Hong Kong and China," he said.