Hongkong Land net profit up 67% on fair value gains

A ONE-OFF GAIN from a change in fair value of its investment properties gave a fillip to results for Hongkong Land Holdings in its full financial year.

Net profit rose 67 per cent to US$5.59 billion for the year ended Dec 31, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on March 8 after trading hours.

This translates to an earnings per share of 237.39 US cents, up from 142.23 US cents in the previous year.

Final dividend per share increased to 14 US cents from 13 US cents in the previous year. This brings total dividend per share for the year to 20 US cents, compared to 19 US cents in the year before.

Underlying net profit also rose 14.4 per cent to US$969.7 million, which the company said was a record.

Revenue for Hongkong Land slipped 1.7 per cent to US$1.96 billion from the previous year, due to lower revenues in its sales of properties segment.

But results were helped by a US$4.67 billion boost from revaluations of its investment properties.

Robert Wong, chief executive, said in a statement that the company saw better contributions from its investment property and development property businesses in 2017.

"The group's investment property portfolio is expected to continue generating stable returns in 2018," he wrote. "In the development properties business, higher profits are expected from mainland China and Singapore."

Hongkong Land Holdings shares finished one US cent higher at US$6.76 on Thursday.

A member of the Jardine Matheson Group, the company owns and manages more than 850,000 square metres of prime office and luxury retail property across Asia.