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Hong Kong property
Business

Li Ka-shing’s flagship companies post rise in net profit, showcase strength of diverse portfolio

  • CK Hutchison Holdings beats estimates with 10 per cent increase in 2022 net profit to HK$36.68 billion (US$4.7 billion)
  • CK Asset Holdings says net profit rose 2.1 per cent to HK$21.68 billion last year

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Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong Center II development in Hong Kong’s Central. The 41-storey office building is expected to be completed this year. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Lam Ka-sing
Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, has shown how a diverse portfolio of investments has helped his flagship companies thrive, even as his city was saddled by the most severe economic slump in decades during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The Li family-controlled CK Hutchison Holdings beat estimates when its 2022 net profit rose 10 per cent to HK$36.68 billion (US$4.7 billion), while the combined revenue from its other businesses, which range from container ports and retail sales to telecommunications, increased by 2.7 per cent to HK$457.23 billion.

CK Asset Holdings, Li’s property flagship, said on Thursday that its net profit rose 2.1 per cent to HK$21.68 billion, or earnings per share of HK$5.98, up 3.6 per cent when compared with the previous year.

“We do not [only] do one business,” Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, Li’s elder son and chairman of CK Asset, said in a press conference after the company’s earnings announcement. “We have many choices to target different places and businesses, and most importantly the economic cycle, to flexibly allocate capital in different assets. Then you can balance the development.”
Victor Li Tzar-kuoi during the announcement of CK Asset’s 2022 results. Photo: Handout
Victor Li Tzar-kuoi during the announcement of CK Asset’s 2022 results. Photo: Handout

For example, Hong Kong’s property sector has witnessed keen competition over the last few years, with land prices surging to new highs. “We had a choice to develop elsewhere, investing in infrastructure or other projects with fixed income,” Li said. “At an appropriate time, we could even lock in returns.”

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