Hutchison Whampoa, the retail-to-telecoms conglomerate controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, managed to offset falling revenues with a series of one-off asset disposals.
The company said yesterday that full-year revenues declined 14 per cent to HK$300.5bn ($38.5bn) from a year earlier, hit mainly by poor performance at its ports and energy operations. But net profit still rose 12 per cent to HK$14.2bn.
Losses before interest and tax at Hutchison's third-generation mobile telecommunications unit, which for years has been a big drag on earnings, narrowed 67 per cent to HK$5.3bn last year. Excluding the effects of one-time gains, operating losses were pared 32 per cent. The company, which in August delayed a 2009 target date for achieving positive earnings before interest and tax for its 3 Group, promised the unit would turn profitable at an operating level this year.