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(Updated) Aug. 15 — The real estate arm of Hong Kong’s prominent business magnate’s conglomerate will keep offering properties at discounted prices to clear inventory, despite a 27 percent decline in first-half profits driven by lower valuations of investment properties.
Revenue increased by 15 percent, reaching HKD 25.4 billion (approximately USD 3.2 billion) in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. However, profits attributable to shareholders dropped to HKD 6.3 billion (around USD 805.2 million), as reported in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
The conglomerate, which has diverse interests including port operations, retail outlets, and telecommunications, is adapting its strategy amid challenging global economic conditions. Company officials emphasized that the focus remains on reducing inventory and keeping pricing strategies flexible.
The discount approach seems to be paying off. Property sales soared nearly 59 percent year-on-year to HKD 7.4 billion, with over half of that—HKD 3.8 billion—coming from mainland China, more than doubling last year’s figure.
In Hong Kong, a low-interest-rate environment has helped fuel a revival in new home transactions, especially for small and medium-sized units, stated George Ma, the general manager of enterprise business development, during a recent financial update. Yet, overall supply levels are high, putting downward pressure on home prices, he added.
Patrick Man, the general manager of accounting, mentioned that upcoming projects in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Beijing are expected to contribute to profits in the second half of the year, although losses from the Blue Coast development will partly offset those gains. Blue Coast is a luxury residential development located in Hong Kong’s Wong Chuk Hang district, currently being sold at a discount.
The company has intensified its discounting efforts since early last year. Units at Blue Coast, launched in 2024, are priced about 30 percent below comparable second-hand properties and 22 percent below the cost of development.
When asked about future earnings, Man noted that profit contributions from property development are unlikely to be significant in the coming years.
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