Hang Lung shrugs off Hong Kong property slump as H1 profit jumps 27 pct (updated)

Hang Lung Properties

28/07/2016 09:49

* H1 underlying net pft HK$0.70/shr vs HK$0.55/shr year-ago 
    * Revenue jumps 37 pct to HK$6.31 bln; Kowloon sales boost 
    * H1 HK property sales down 40 pct overall - gov't data 
    * Many Kowloon units unsold; tough market ahead - Hang Lung 
 
 (Adds outlook for H2, details on residential property sales) 
    By Clare Baldwin 
    HONG KONG, July 28 (Reuters) - Hong Kong developer Hang Lung 
Properties Ltd  0101.HK  said its underlying first-half profit 
jumped 27 percent per share, driven by higher residential 
property sales despite the city's broader economy being hit by 
slowing growth in mainland China. 
    Hang Lung, the first of the territory's closely watched 
developers to report earnings for the half, said on Thursday it 
earned HK$3.17 billion ($409 million) in underlying net profit 
in the half year ended June 30, or HK$0.70 per share, up from 
HK$0.55 per share in the same period a year earlier. 
    Property-related businesses account for almost a fifth of 
the Hong Kong economy, making their earnings bellwether reports 
for the territory. 
    Revenue rose 37 percent to HK$6.31 billion from HK$4.61 
billion in the same period last year, Hang Lung said. Much of 
the boost came from the sale of 226 residential properties at 
The Long Beach development in Kowloon.  
    Hang Lung's strong half showed it had succeeded in 
sidestepping some market weakness. Hong Kong government data 
shows that overall property sales in the territory fell by 
almost 40 percent in both volume and value in the first half of 
the year.  L1N19S06C  
    But Hang Lung's commercial leasing business didn't perform 
nearly as well, and as of the end of June, it still had 446 
completed units of The Long Beach to sell. It said on Thursday 
that it doesn't rule out harder times ahead.  
    "Both mainland China and Hong Kong will continue to face the 
challenges posed by slow economic growth and weak retail 
consumption sentiment" in the second half of the year, it said 
in a statement. Britain's June 23 vote to leave the European 
Union had also added to economic uncertainty, it said.     
    Hang Lung's shares closed up 1.8 percent while the benchmark 
index  .HSI  ended 0.2 percent lower.  
     
($1 = 7.7562 Hong Kong dollars)     
 
 (Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Additional reporting by Hera Poon 
and Tris Pan; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) 
 ((Clare.Baldwin@thomsonreuters.com; + 852 2843 6571; Reuters 
Messaging: clare.baldwin.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: HANGLUNG RESULTS/