The conglomerate, with businesses touching almost every aspect of the average Hongkonger’s life, was able to pull through the worldwide pandemic because of its “financial discipline, resilience and agility,” said Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, chairman of both companies, during an online briefing.

“Covid-19 is a stress test which highlights the high quality of our assets, and shows that our financial discipline over the past few years has been able to withstand such a huge wave,” said Li, the tycoon’s elder son. “I have full confidence in the company’s quality assets. The cash flow, low gearing level, and the quality of our assets make the company very strong. We have lots of good opportunities to use our muscles.”

Hutchison’s revenue rose 10.3 per cent to HK$445.38 billion for the 12 months ended December. The completion of a HK$25.3 billion sale of wireless telecommunications towers in Italy and Sweden contributed a one-time gain of HK$4.9 billion.

This gain was mostly offset by HK$15.5 billion in non-cash impairment of goodwill on the group’s Italian telecommunication business, the recognition of a non-cash foreign exchange loss of HK$3.5 billion from merging its energy business with Cenovus Energy, and HK$1.4 billion from its share of Cenovus’ non-cash impairment on US refinery assets.

Sales at Hutchison’s retail business increased 9 per cent to HK$173.6 billion, reflecting a strong recovery from the 2020 slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The profitability of some operations in Europe surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

Hutchison’s A.S. Watson unit, which runs a worldwide chain of chemists, said it would cease its business in Russia by June, citing a decision made in January due to “unsatisfactory business performance.” The Russia business, comprising 47 stores in St. Petersburg, defied many attempts by the local management team to improve, according to a spokeswoman.

Turnover from Hutchison’s container ports and related services rose 29 per cent to HK$42.3 billion last year.

Hutchison will recommend a final dividend of HK$1.86 per share, compared with HK$1.7 a year ago.

CK Asset’s revenue from recognised property sales fell 2.2 per cent to HK$37.8 billion, led by an 86.5 per cent slump in overseas sales to HK$352 million.

“The group’s investment strategy proved to be resilient to market change,” said Raymond Cheng, head of China and Hong Kong research at CGS-CIMB Securities. “With a strong cash position, the group can do the cherry-picking [of investing] anywhere.”

Revenue from hotels and serviced apartments rose by 31.9 per cent to HK$2.7 billion last year.

Average occupancy at its Harbour Grand and Harbour Plaza hotels and resorts stood at 37 per cent last year, while Horizon Hotels & Suites and other service suite operations, including Hotel Alexandra, achieved an average occupancy rate of 93 per cent with long-stay guests.

CK Asset raised its final dividend to HK$1.79 per share, from HK$1.46 in 2020.

“The outlook for the global economy is still uncertain,” Li said. “The emergence of new Covid-19 variants, elevated inflation concerns and expected tightening of monetary policies have increased the difficulty in predicting both the global growth trajectory and the growth trajectories for the world’s major economies for 2022