Hang Lung reports 2018 underlying profit slumps 26 per cent amid fewer sales

Hang Lung Properties reported on Wednesday 2018 underlying profit plunged 26 per cent on year, matching analyst expectations, amid softer sales during a 12-month period that coincided with a downturn in the developer’s project completion pipeline.

For the financial year ended December 31, the developer’s underlying profit totalled HK$4.09 billion (US$522 million), or 91 HK cents per share, compared to HK$5.53 billion, or HK$1.23 per share, a year earlier.

The company will distribute a final dividend of 58 HK cents per share, which remained unchanged from the previous year. Together with an interim dividend of 17 HK cents per share, the full year dividend for 2018 amounted to 75 HK cents per share.

Hang Lung recorded relatively few property sales for 2018, including three house at 23-39 Blue Pool Road in Happy Valley and nine flats at The Long Beach in Southwest Kowloon, resulting in revenue from property sales of HK$1.23 billion, a drop of 64 per cent from a year earlier.

Hang Lung reported sales of 228 flats in 2017.

Profit from property sales totalled HK$762 million, a drop of 66 per cent from a year earlier.