Li Ka-shing’s two flagships defy gloom with interim results that beat forecasts, as Hong Kong’s recovery trickles into earnings

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Hutchison reported a 41 per cent jump in first-half net profit to HK$18.3 billion (US$2.35 billion) while revenue rose 12 per cent to HK$212.4 billion

CK Asset said first-half profit increased 30.8 per cent to HK$8.35 billion, while its recognised revenue from property sales shrank 24 per cent to HK$14.8 billion

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CK Hutchison Holdings’s flags outside the company's headquarters in Hong Kong on March 21, 2019. Photo: AFP

Martin ChoiandPearl Liu

Published: 6:30pm, 5 Aug 2021Updated: 11:04pm, 5 Aug 2021

CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings, the two flagship companies of Hong Kong’s richest family, defied naysayers with interim results that beat expectations, as the city’s tentative recovery from its worst recession on record translated to increased spending on everything from groceries to real estate.

Hutchison, the conglomerate with businesses ranging from the world’s ninth-largest container port to the A/S Watsons pharmacy chain, reported a 41 per cent jump in first-half net profit to HK$18.3 billion (US$2.35 billion) while revenue rose 12 per cent to HK$212.4 billion. CK Asset, the city’s second-largest real estate developer by value, said first-half profit increased 30.8 per cent to HK$8.35 billion, while its recognised revenue from property sales shrank 24 per cent to HK$14.8 billion.

The two sets of financial results by one of Hong Kong’s bellwether conglomerates underscore how two successive quarters of economic growth are slowly trickling into corporate earnings, as the city continues to grapple with a recession and record high unemployment wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are never satisfied with our figures, but it was OK given the pandemic,” said the two companies’ chairman, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, the elder son of Cheung Kong Group’s founder and patriarch, Li Ka-shing. “Many of our businesses, aircraft [leasing], hotels and pubs are still under a very stressful time, but our assets are quite resilient to various difficult situations and earnings are reliable.”

(L-R) Tycoon Li Ka-shing with his elder son Victor Li Tzar-kuoi (right) at CK Asset Holding’s annual dinner in Wan Chai on January 2020. Photo: Dickson Lee

The two companies said they would pay dividends to the legions of shareholders who own their shares owing to their weighting as constituents of Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng stock index. Hutchison will raise its interim dividend by 30 per cent to 80 Hong Kong cents per share, while CK Asset increased its payout by 20 per cent to 41 cents per share.