Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining NWS Holdings Financial Year 2023 final results and its presentation. I'm Catherine from the IL team, and also, and also today's MC. First of all, let me introduce our senior management members joining today's presentation. Mr. Gilbert Ho, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer ; Mr. Jim Lam, our Chief Financial Officer ; and Mr. Ben Wong, Director of Corporate Development, Investment, Investor Relations, and Sustainability. As the transaction in relation to the offer by CTFE to acquire NWS shares is still in progress, due to regulatory reasons, our financial advisor, UBS, will chaperone the webcast. In addition, only questions related to our results will be addressed. Thank you for understanding. For today's agenda, Gilbert will first walk you through the key highlights of our company's results and strategy.
After this, Jim will present to you the financial highlights, and then Ben will cover the performance of individual business segment, and then followed by the Q&A session. If you have any questions related to our results, please enter your questions into the text box on the left-hand side of the screen. Without further ado, let me pass the time to Gilbert. Gilbert, please.
Thank you, Catherine. Good afternoon, everyone. Let me give you a very brief introductions about NWS, especially regarding our business portfolio. As some of you may know, since 2018, we have undergone a portfolio optimizations. For the last five years, we have disposed a number of assets to unlock our value and reduce our risk exposures, and at the same time, we have added a number of assets with steady cash flow, as well as AOP contributions and positive growth prospect. From 2023 onwards, basically, our portfolio has been stabilized with more improved earning quality, more strengthened cash flow visibility, and also reduced our risk exposures. We will focus on roads, logistics, and FTLife expansions going forward. For FY 2023, our resilient business portfolio has actually make us very resilient.
As you can see, for our roads sections, we have a very strong recovery upon the exit of COVID-19 containment measures in the mainland and a gradual economy recovery. For insurance, the strong pent-up demand relief from mainland visitors after border reopened, has actually pushed us from rank number 12 a year ago, to, to rank number nine for the six months end 2023, June. Also, for our facility management business, including Hong Kong CEC and Free Duty, also captured the growth momentum since the border reopened in the, in the second half of 2023. Let us look at the AOP. If you look at our operating AOP, operating business AOP, namely our roads business, our constructions, meaning Hip Hing, Hip Hing Construction, our insurance business, logistics, as well as our facility management.
Year-on-year, we have a growth of 11%. When we look forward, there are a number of growth industry growth support that actually supports our growth going forward. For roads, the growth in mainland economy, as well as the automobile sales, will drive the roads growth going forward. For constructions, the Hong Kong government policy to increase the land and housing supply, as well as the expected increase in Hong Kong government projects in the Northern Metropolis, will secure more projects in the years to come. For insurance, needless to say, the strong pent-up demand from mainland visitors will continue. For logistics, the economy development in Mainland China, as well as government support to drive logistics sector growth, will further push our logistics to grow further.
For the facility management, all of the three sub-segments, including GHK, Hong Kong CEC, as well as Free Duty, will also benefit from the border reopening, as well as the economic growth. In terms of our capital structures, we have done a number of things to optimize our capital structures, as well as to strengthen our balance sheets. First of all, we have savings from the redemption of our senior notes, as well as perpetual security at discounts to par. Second, we are the first Hong Kong conglomerate to successfully register in China to issue onshore renminbi bonds, the Panda Bond, in May 2023. The first tranche was issued with RMB 1.5 billion at 3.9% coupon, with a three-year tenure.
All of this reduced to repay the Hong Kong dollar loan with high interest costs and act as a natural hedge of our renminbi assets. We also continue to optimize our capital structure and cost of finance. During this years, we increased our proportion of borrowings denominated in renminbi. As at June 30, 2023, our renminbi debt to total debt ratios increased from 40% a year ago to 43%. This can mitigate the risk of escalating interest rate of our Hong Kong dollar and US dollar borrowings, as well as minimize negative impact on group's equity due to depreciation of renminbi. Due to the proactive capital management and strong balance sheets, we will continue to meet our capital needs and maintain our flexibility.
As of the 30th of June, we have cash on hand of around HKD 19 billion and a net gearing ratio of 9%. We also have committed undrawn banking facilities of over HKD 11 billion. In terms of dividends, over the last 20 years, we are consecutively paying our dividends, and we will continue to do that. We also uphold our sustainable and progressive dividend policies. For 2023, we have a total dividend payout of HKD 0.61. I'll now pass on to Jim to give you some financial highlights of our results of financial year 2023.
Sure. Thank you, Gilbert. In fiscal year 2023, our revenue increased by 45% year-on-year to HKD 45.2 billion. The increase was caused mainly by the increase in insurance revenue, which was up HKD 8.6 billion year-on-year, as well as the increase in construction revenue, which was up HKD 4.4 billion year-on-year. On attributable operating profit, fiscal year 2023, AOP was down 6% to HKD 4.1 billion. I will go through the reasons for the decline on the next page. However, we would like to highlight that you would just look at the operating businesses AOP, which exclude the businesses that were disposed of or discontinued, such as aviation and environment.
And, excluding businesses which are not anymore, you know, our focuses. The operating business AOP was actually up 11% year-on-year to HKD 4.2 billion. During the year, we had non-operating losses of HKD 550 million, which was a significant decline of 65% as compared with HKD 1.6 billion in fiscal year 2022. The non-operating losses for the current year is driven mainly by the loss on disposal of a legacy project related to co-trading in the mainland, and impairment losses from certain investments of the group. Our net finance cost was up 44% to HKD 539 million, which was driven mainly by the significant increase in interest rate for Hong Kong dollar loans.
However, that was partly mitigated by the interest savings from our active management of debt mix through increasing renminbi debt exposure. It is worthwhile to highlight that our renminbi debt as a percentage of total debt increased substantially from 14% in fiscal 2022 to 43% in fiscal year 2023. Overall, our profit for the year was up 22% to HKD 2.6 billion. Stripping out the distribution made to the perpetual capital securities holders of HKD 612 million, profit attributable to shareholders of the company was up 28% to HKD 2.0 billion in fiscal year 2023. EPS was HKD 0.55, which represent an increase of 36% year-on-year.
The board announced this morning a final dividend for fiscal year 2023 of HKD 0.31, which together with the interim DPS of HKD 0.30, give rise to a full year DPS of HKD 0.61 for year 2023, which is the same as fiscal year 2022. Adjusted EBITDA was HKD 6.6 billion, which represent a small decline of 3% as compared with HKD 6.8 billion in 2022. Moving on to the sector performance. For the roads segment, the AOP in 2023 was down 10% year-on-year to HKD 1.5 billion, which was caused by three reasons. First, the depreciation of the renminbi, as we have in Hong Kong dollar as a reporting currency.
The containment, the COVID-19 containment measures in the mainland, during first half of the fiscal year, as well as the, cut in toll fee for trucks by 10%, in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2022. Second, despite, you know, the difficult, operating environment in the first half, we actually saw a strong recovery, in both traffic flow as well as traffic revenue, in the second half of the fiscal year, following the relaxation of COVID-19 containment measures in the mainland. If you exclude the renminbi depreciation impact, as well as the financial incentive for both fiscal years, our AOP for the road segment actually declined by just 2% year-on-year. Moving on to the construction segment.
The AOP was down 18% year-on-year to HKD 746 million. The decline was driven mainly by the AOP attributable to our interest held in Weiqi Holdings. If you just look at Hip Hing, which accounted for the majority of the profit of our construction segment, this AOP declined by only 7% year-on-year, and the decline was due to the lower gross margin recognized for the revenue recognized in the current year. For the insurance segment, the AOP increased by 12% year-on-year to HKD 1.2 billion. The improvement was driven mainly by the rebound in business performance, the effective expense controlled, as well as the change in variable interest rate used in response to the increase in market interest rate.
However, that was partially offset by the increase in expected credit loss related to certain bond investment made by FT Life. The logistics segment saw a 27% increase in AOP to HKD 752 million. In terms of the key businesses within our logistics segment, ATL maintained a steady growth trajectory during the fiscal year. CUIRC saw a strong increase in AOP as a result of the robust demand for multimodal transportation service, increasing terminal capacity from the new Guangzhou terminal. Also, in fiscal year 2023, the group benefited from the first full year contribution from the five logistics properties that were acquired in Chengdu and Wuhan.
As well as the new contribution from the sixth newly completed logistics property in Chengdu since January 2023. For the facility management segment, there was a substantial layering of an AOL by almost 85% to just HKD 62 million. Both Hong Kong CEC and Free Duty turn around from AOL to AOP. While GHK continued to see growth in its EBITDA as well as improvement in the businesses. For the strategic investment, its AOL also narrowed by 47% to HKD 76 million. So overall, the AOP for the group declined about 6% to HKD 4.1 billion.
As mentioned previously, if you just look at the operating businesses, AOP, the group actually saw an 11% increase in operating business AOP to HKD 4.2 billion. I pass over to Ben to talk about the various business segments of the group.
Thank you very much, Jim. So let's start with the road segment. Overall, the AOP is down 10%, but if you exclude RMB depreciation, which our AOP will be decreasing by 4%, and if you also excluding some of the financial incentives, the overall AOP is down 2%. And on the left-hand side, you can also see for the like-for-like traffic year-on-year on the second half, we have seen strong recovery up 19% and 17%. And if you compare in terms of the pre-COVID levels in 2019, second half, both the traffic flow and the revenue has surpassed the pre-COVID level. Our major expressway contributed 90% of our roads AOP, and with the overall like-for-like traffic flow up 2% year-on-year.
It's. If you look into the average remaining concession, it's up about 5%, at around 11 years. Last year was a active year for us in terms of acquisitions and expanding our roads portfolio. We made, we completed the acquisition, 40% in Guiwu Expressway. We have also acquired the remaining 60% of Shuiyue Expressway, and we have continued to work on the expansion of road of the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, as well as extension of the Shenzhen-Huizhou Expressway. If you look into the outlook, we have seen second half making a strong recovery, and we continue to look for opportunities going forward to strengthen our growth portfolio.
To the next segment in construction, AOP is down 18%, but if you look into Hip Hing only, it's only down 7%. New contract awarded to Hip Hing Group is HKD 5.2 billion, and contract on hand is HKD 56 billion, and the backlog is HKD 25 billion. The mix of the projects is about 68%-32%, private to government. As mentioned earlier by Gilbert, the outlook for the industry continue to show positive outlook with government policies, which we expect to have more projects coming online over the next few years from the development of the Northern Metropolis. Moving on to insurance. If you look at the AOP for insurance, it's up 12%.
But if you look in further down into the individual, APE growth has been up 162% on second half, year-on-year, and for full year, it's up 47%. Our ranking for the first half of 2023, we are up from 12th to 9th. VONB is up 70% to about HKD 900 million. And with the border reopening, we have seen mainland visitors returning as our clients. And if you look into the embedded value, it's up 9% to HKD 19.3 billion. As we have ran through some of the basic key figures of insurance, we have seen strong demand from coming from mainland visitors after the border reopening, particularly on the second half of the year, especially the last few months.
If you look at some of the key figures highlighted here on the screen, you have seen APE at HKD 2.5 billion. Market ranking is up. VONB is up to about HKD 900 million, embedded value to HKD 19.3 billion. If you look at our rating, it remains steady, and our solvency is at 325%. With the upcoming accounting policy changes of HKFRS 17, we would expect to have some impact on our financial position, such as the increase in total equity. For illustration purpose, if you compare the AOP under HKFRS 17 versus HKFRS 4, we would potentially see a decrease in AOP and also a decrease in revenue.
For further details, you can look into the accounting policies in our announcements for further detail. In terms of the risk-based capital update, based on current estimation, the solvency under the RBC would be 260%, which will be adopted in FY 2025. Looking into logistics, we have seen stable + growth from our various assets. For example, under the logistics asset and management in ATL, which has been very stable and has been delivering strong cash flow as well as income, with a 2% increase in rent. It's currently at 99.8% occupancy.
With the recently acquired warehouses in Chengdu, Wuhan, and Suzhou, you have seen the 5 logistics properties occupancy at 90.1%, and the 6 newly completed logistics property in January, with currently at 51.2% occupancy. We have also acquired a logistics property in Suzhou with a 100% occupancy in, completed in June. So, the logistics segment, with the logistics asset and management portion of the logistics segment, has definitely delivered stable cash flow income as well as growth with the recently acquired properties. If you look into the CUIRC, AOP also grew noticeably by 28%. Throughput is up 17%, with the increase in capacity from in the Guangzhou terminal, doubling the handling capacity for the Jiangzhou terminal, as well as the expansion Xiongan terminal.
We continue to look into other logistic-related investment, hoping that with the logistic asset management as well as CUIRC and other logistic-related investment, we would be able to form a logistic ecosystem within the segment. On the outlook for the segment, it remains to be resilient, and obviously from the Chengdu, Wuhan properties, we have seen occupancy steadily increasing, and we have also seen growth in the CUIRC investment. Moving on to the last segment, facility management. We have seen the AOP decreasing by 85% to about HKD 62 million AOP. And if you look, mainly it's contributed by the ramping up and the returning of the customers from HKCEC and Free Duty, as well as the ramping up in GHK.
Looking into CEC and Free Duty, you have seen both benefiting well from the border reopening in January and in January, and then, with the reopening of the shops in January and February, and Free Duty as well as, we have seen many, regional and international events coming back to Hong Kong. If you go to GHK, we have seen the EBITDA increase by 759% and further improvement in AOP, and mentioned earlier, the EBITDA margin improved as well. So I think looking forward for CEC and Free Duty, it definitely has benefited from the second half rebound. And we continue to look for opportunities to expand in the service offerings to facilitate the ramp-up in the Gleneagles Hong Kong Hospital. Moving on to ESG.
We have seen improvements in the ESG rating performances, particularly in the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index. We have been awarded with best overall score within the conglomerate category, and we have seen MSCI ranking us A in the rating. And obviously, we have also achieved improvement in Sustainalytics, and also we have received awards from reputable organizations, such as in the HICPA, HKMA, WGO, and the Best HR Awards. And if we move on to the sustainability part, this year, we have aligned our ESG strategy together with our revamped core values: act with integrity, grow as one, advance with agility, create share value, and evolve sustainably. And I'll walk you through briefly on each of them.
So obviously, in Act with Integrity, we have strong governance, overseeing our business operations, as well as monitor, manage, and collaborate with, across BUs, with strong oversight. In Advancing Agility, we look into how to leverage innovation and turn risks into opportunities. Some of the examples we have used in HKCEC, in Hip Hing, as well as we have now, further developed our roadmap, accelerating to net zero. So we'll be looking into a phase one and phase two implementation, focusing on key industries such as construction, facility management, and insurance in phase one, and in phase two, we'll then focus on roads and logistics. Evolving sustainably, we target to reduce, resources, time, savings on electricity. Also, we have, looking into going green with, you know, securing, warehouse - a green warehouse certificate in the newly acquired warehouses.
And if you look into the investment for the future, we have now implemented an ESG due diligence guideline for our investments, taking into account ESG-related risks, and particularly on the climate-related risks. And we are in CTF Life, we have also been looking into greening the investment portfolio. So we are in terms of capital deployment, investment, we will take into account of ESG measures as well as specific climate-related risks. Growing as one, we focus on wellness and connectivity. In Hip Hing, we have started a five-day work week. We have also pushed through some of the initiative to build a better connection with amongst our employees, as employee is always the most important asset to the company.
In terms of creating share value, we would like to grow together with our community. We care about the well-being of our workforces, such as partnering with startups, providing hot food at remote construction sites, as well as contributing back to the community to foster an inclusive community. I think that will conclude our presentation. I'll pass the mic to Catherine.