Hopewell Holdings, a Hong Kong-based property developer controlled by billionaire Gordon Wu, posted a 127 percent rise in full-year profits on one-off gains from assets disposal.

The real estate company earned HK$5.97 billion for the year that ended June compared with HK$2.63 billion a year earlier. The strong growth was boosted by the exceptional gains totaling HK$4.79 billion, including HK$3.95 billion disposal gains from selling 50 percent interest of Nova City project in Macao.

The builder also booked a HK$793 million gain from disposing Guangzhou East-South-West (ESW) Ring Road held by Hopewell Highway Infrastructure.

Excluding the exceptional gains, its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 30 percent to HK$1.88 billion. The company's total turnover for the year slipped 41 percent to HK$2.92 billion, mainly due to the lower toll and property development revenue after asset disposals. However, its rental income remained strong, sales from property investment rose 24 percent to HK$485 million.

Hopewell will pay a final dividend of HK$0.40 a share and a special dividend of HK$1.10.

Hopewell Highway Infrastructure, a toll roads unit 73 percent-owned by Hopewell Holdings, posted a 48 percent rise in full-year profits to HK$2 billion. The disposal gains from ESW Ring Road offset the fall in toll revenue that is affected by the maintenance works on Xintang to Dongguan section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen (GS) Superhighway.

The net toll revenue of all toll expressways slid 15 percent to HK$1.72 billion, a final HK$0.13 and special final dividend of HK$0.28 per share have been proposed for the shareholders.

(HK Edition 09/11/2008 page2)