Hutchison Whampoa first-half profit falls 78%

Telecommunications-to-property conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. said Thursday its first-half net profit fell 78%, as its earnings in the year-earlier period was lifted by a large one-off gain from the spinoff of its southern China port assets, Marketwatch reports.

Hutchison, the listed flagship of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, said its net profit for the six months ended June 30 fell to 10.21 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$1.32 billion) from HK$46.30 billion. In the first-half of 2011, Hutchison listed its deep-water port assets in Hong Kong and China through a business trust in Singapore, resulting in a HK$37.18 billion one-time gain for the company.

Nonetheless, the conglomerate's first-half net profit was higher than the average HK$9.59 billion forecast of four analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Hutchison's first-half revenue rose 6% to HK$194.99 billion from a restated HK$183.39 billion. The company also said its third-generation mobile phone operations in Europe had a first-half profit before interest and tax of HK$1.37 billion, up 51% from a year earlier.

The blue chip company declared a first-half dividend of HK$0.55 a share, unchanged from a year earlier.