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Unrest dents MTR Corp earnings, income slumps to HK$11.9bMTR Corp, which took a battering from protesters and police raids into rail stations from June last year, reported today
net profit for 2019 dropped by 25.5 percent to HK$11.93 billion, or earnings per share after revaluation of HK$1.94.
The profit includes the gain arising from investment property revaluation.
Group revenue in 2019 was HK$54.50 billion, up by 1.1 percent from the year before, mainly due to the full year contribution from the high speed railway and higher revenue contributions from mainland of China and international subsidiaries.
This was offset mostly by the reduction in Hong Kong fare revenue and rental concessions to some tenants in station kiosks and shopping malls because of the unrest.
At the tail end of 2019, the MTR Corp suffered further blows from the coronavirus that spread from Wuhan in China to Hong Kong, forcing restrictions on rail operations.
In January and February in 2020,
rail and bus passengers in Hong Kong skidded by 34 percent compared with same period in 2019.
The mass transit rail operator declared a final dividend of HK$0.98 per share. The full-year dividend is HK$1.23 percent, up by 2.5 percent increase from a year ago.
Rail operations, station commercial and property rental businesses, took a hit from the social unrest.
Passengers on week days fell to 5.61 million, a drop of 4.5 percent from 2018.
In the first half, total patronage gained by 2.5 percent, but fell by 14.8 percent in the second half. Expenditures for hiring additional staff during the period and carrying out extensive repairs and replacements also had an adverse effect on financial and operational results.
The station commercial and property rental businesses was affected as a result of early closures during protests.
The MTRC estimated the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak and the unrest in the first two months of 2020 at about HK$1.3 billion on the net profit of the recurrent businesses. The estimate is not audited.
Revenue from Hong Kong transport operations increased by 2.3 percent to HK$19.94 billion, helped by the high-speed rail, which launched in September 2018. But total patronage of rail and bus passenger services dropped by 6.4 percent to 1.91 billion, with a 14.8 percent decline in the second half amid protests.
The MTRC also made a provision of HK$2 billion last year for the Hung Hom incidents of the Sha Tin to Central Link project, and a HK$436 million of provision related to the South Western Railway in the United Kingdom.
The MTRC generated HK$5.14 billion from property rental businesses last year, up by 1.6 percent year-on-year.
Property development profit reached HK$5.5 billion mainly derived from Malibu, or Lohas Park Phase 5 and The Lohas shopping mall atop Lohas Park phase seven. The company awarded two new property packages in 2019 and one in 2020.
The company plans to tender out three property development packages, including its last package at Lohas Park and the fifth and sixth packages at Wong Chuk Hang Station. The projects are expected to provide about 4,050 residential units.
Source: The Standard
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking ... o-HK$11.9b
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"