MTRC profit up 25% to $12.06bn

The sale of units at Le Prestige at LOHAS Park, The Palazzo in Fo Tan and Lake Silver in Wu Kai Sha boosted the company’s property development profit.

The MTR Corporation on Thursday announced its net profit attributable to equity shareholders last year increased 25.1% to $12.059 billion. The MTRC Board has recommended a final dividend of 45 cents per share.

Total revenue last year rose 57% to $29.518 billion. Operating profit from railway and related businesses before depreciation, amortisation and variable annual payment increased 14.7% to $10.917 billion.

Excluding its overseas railway subsidiaries, revenue was 9.1% higher and operating profit 11.9% higher, while operating margin improved 1.4 percentage points to 54.9%.

Property development profit for the year was $4.034 billion compared to $3.554 billion in 2009. The major contribution came from sales of Le Prestige at LOHAS Park. The sale of units in inventory at The Palazzo in Fo Tan and Lake Silver in Wu Kai Sha also added to the result.

Excluding investment properties revaluation and the related deferred tax, net profit from underlying businesses attributable to equity shareholders increased 18.5% to $8.657 billion, representing earnings per share of $1.51.

Gain on revaluation of investment properties was $4.074 billion pretax and $3.402 billion post-tax as compared with $2.798 billion pre-tax for 2009. Therefore net profit attributable to equity shareholders increased 25.1% to $12.059 billion, equivalent to earnings per share of $2.1 after such revaluation.

The board recommended a final dividend of 45 cents per share, resulting in a total dividend for the year of 59 cents per share, compared to 52 cents per share in 2009.

Total patronage increased 6.8% over the previous year to 1.6 billion passengers. Average weekday patronage was 3.8 million, up 6.4%, according to a MTRC report.

By the end of December there were more than 3,000 Octopus service providers in Hong Kong, including those serviced by Octopus-appointed acquirers. There were 23.1 million cards in circulation, and the average daily transaction volume and value were 11.5 million and $106.6 million.

The company’s share of Octopus’ net profit for last year was $126 million, down 15.4% on 2009, mainly due to one-off expenses incurred by Octopus relating to a data-privacy incident.