CK Asset Holdings and Henderson Land Development said they were struggling with weak property sales in Hong Kong and mainland China amid a prolonged real estate slump.
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Revaluation losses on the developers’ investment properties put additional pressure on their bottom lines, according to separate disclosures filed with Hong Kong’s stock exchange on Thursday.
CK Asset, one of the flagships of Hong Kong’s wealthiest man Li Ka-shing, said 2024 net profit fell more than 21 per cent to HK$13.65 billion (US$1.8 billion). Analysts, according to a Bloomberg survey, expected a profit of HK$13.57 billion.
Henderson, whose founder Lee Shau-kee died earlier this week, said its 2024 profit declined by nearly a third to HK$6.3 billion, which included a fair-value loss of HK$2 billion. Analysts, according to Bloomberg, expected a profit of HK$9.5 billion.
The group’s earnings included a gain of HK$1.4 billion from the sale of a 25-storey mixed office and retail building called Harbour East in North Point to Li Ning, China’s largest sportswear manufacturer.
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CK Asset’s co-developed projects in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau sold out. But that was not enough to offset an 84 per cent plunge in home sales on the mainland, which dragged the group’s property sales revenue down by 47.7 per cent to about HK$10 billion. Rental revenue rose 3.8 per cent to HK$6.1 billion, aided in large part by overseas assets like the Civitas Social Housing trust in the UK.
“The global economy is expected to remain challenging in 2025”, said CK Asset chairman Victor Li Tzar-kuoi. “The divergence in growth momentum, monetary policies and interest rate movements across major economies will be shaped by policy shifts, increasing economic fragmentation and the changing political landscape. Ongoing geopolitical tensions, trade protectionism and uncertainty will continue to affect global growth prospects.”