New World’s first-half profit rises 29 per cent, propelled by surging home sales in Hong Kong’s property bull market
- The company’s first-half core profit rose 29 per cent to HK$5.40 billion on the back of a 76 per cent surge in sales
New World Development, Hong Kong’s fourth-largest developer by value, posted the biggest jump in interim earnings in two years, propelled by rising home sales in the first half of its financial year, as it cleared unsold property off its books before a proposed vacancy tax takes effect.
The developer’s core profit, excluding revaluation gains on investment properties, rose 29 per cent to HK$5.4 billion (US$687.49 million) in its first half ended December, according to a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Sales soared 76 per cent to HK$49.27 billion, beating the HK$34.91 billion consensus in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.
“The property development segment recorded a 202 per cent increase in revenues,” said New World’s Chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun in a stock exchange filing. “It was mainly due to our visionary sales strategies in Hong Kong during the second quarter in 2018, which significantly enhanced the booking contribution from property development.”
New World declared an interim dividend of 14 Hong Kong cents per share, the same as last year. The company’s shares fell as much as 1.2 per cent in an advancing market to HK$12.74 before earnings were announced and recently changed hands at HK$12.84.