Welcome to CK Asset Holdings 's 2025 Interim Results Analyst Briefing. We have with us today two Executive Committee members, Mr. Simon Man and Mr. Gerald Ma, presenting the group's interim results and to answer questions the audience may have. Please submit your questions using the webcast platform, and we will handle those during the Q&A session. Thank you, Mr. Man and Mr. Ma.
Thank you, Sophia. Let's get right to it. 2025 Interim Results are highlights. Revenue: $39.13 billion, up 12.7% from 2024. Profit before IP revaluation: $6.8 billion. On a per-share basis, $1.94, up 1.6%. We recorded an IP revaluation deficit of $503 million. As a result, profit attributable to shareholders came to $6.3 billion, or $1.80 on a per-share basis, down 26.2%. We declared a dividend per share of $0.39, which is the same as first half 2024. Net book value up 1.7% to $112.65. Our recurrent revenue has gone up to $31.76 billion, and our recurrent profit contribution has improved to almost $8.5 billion. As a percentage of the total, 81% of our revenue and 83% of our profit contribution are now recurrent in nature. 27% of our contribution from Hong Kong, 15% from the mainland, and 58% from overseas. Turning to divisional performance, property sales.
Revenue came to $7.34 billion, up almost 59%. Profit contribution: $1.77 billion, down 2.9%. Contribution margin was 24%, which is pretty decent as an overall margin, but weaker compared to 2024. I'll explain, give you some highlights and details in the pages to follow. Major contributions from three projects highlighted here: Regency Garden from Shanghai, The Greenwich from Beijing, and La Grande Ville from Beijing. If you look at the contribution margin from the mainland and overseas, they are pretty healthy: 38.4% and 30.6%. You see that the Hong Kong contribution margin was 2.6%, largely because of provisions we took for two projects: Victoria Blossom and Blue Coast. If we exclude these two numbers, the provisions that we took for these two projects, the pre-provision margin would have been close to 42%. We still have $28.5 billion worth of contracted sales, which we have not recognized.
The bulk of which, almost $23 billion, is scheduled for recognition in 2025, later on this year. We do have quite a bit of cash coming in towards the end of the year, mainly from a couple of projects: Blue Coast, The Coastline, Perfect Ten in Singapore, and The Greenwich in Beijing. Property rental: $3 billion of revenue, down 3.7%. $2.3 billion of profit contribution, down 5.3%, and still a pretty healthy contribution margin of 77.1%. Overall occupancy in Hong Kong was around 86%, and our European portfolio came in at over 99%. Major contribution: Cheung Kong Center: $477 million, Hutchison Logistics Center: $328 million, and The Whampoa: $315 million. If you look at the revenue by use of property, you see a big drop, 11.5% for our retail properties, from $971 million- $859 million.
If you look at the profit contribution by geography, you see that the biggest drop was from the mainland, 43.9%, $139 million, down to $78 million this year. This is because the joint venture we had in Shanghai, Shanghai Westgate Mall and Tower, expired. We no longer have the contribution from the mainland or from those retail properties. In addition to that, if you look at the social infrastructure, we recorded a 3.5% increase from $648 million to $671 million of revenue. This does not include the social infrastructure we have from Sweden and our German portfolio, which we acquired late last year. They were structured as an investment, so it's not included here.
On a really apple-to-apple basis, if you had included the social infrastructure from Sweden and Germany and excluded the impact of Shanghai Westgate Mall, both on the revenue and on the profit contribution basis, there would be a slight increase compared to 2024. Altogether, we have 22.4 million square feet of investment properties, but we recorded a fair value decrease of $542 million, which is a before-tax and before-non-controlling interest number. That number mainly was caused by the reduction in fair value of 1881 Heritage. Turning to the hotel and service suite division, a solid revenue number of $2.2 billion, up 2.9%. Profit contribution: $794 million, down 3.5%, largely due to last year that there was a one-time accounting write-back. If you exclude that number, actually, this year, both revenue and profit contribution would have a slight increase. A pretty solid performance in a very competitive environment.
Average hotel room occupancy rate has gone up to 89%, and our average service apartment occupancy rate is at a healthy 88%. 248 million square feet under our management right now, $444 million of revenue, $182 million profit contribution, and a very solid 41% profit contribution margin. Turning to our pub operation. The UK is still experiencing a bit of inflation, and disposable income is not spectacular. All in all, macro conditions are still very tough for the sector. Revenue came to $12.5 billion, up 5.9%. Profit contribution up 5.4% to $629 million. Infrastructure and utility operation, you see the respective CKA interest in these joint ventures. An 11.7% increase in contribution compared to 2024, now up to almost $4.6 billion. Largely, there were a couple of factors. One, there's an FX movement that impacted the number.
The U.S. dollar has gone down against most currencies compared to last year, so that's a bit of help there. Also, this year, we have a full six months contribution from Phoenix Energy, basically the Northern Ireland gas distribution business, and also the renewable wind farm, which we acquired last year and under the CK Williams joint venture. We have decent performance from UK Power Networks and Northumbrian Water, as well as Dutch Enviro Energy, which is what we call AVR, the waste management business in the Netherlands. Part of the, we had a fire a couple of years ago, which I think part of the rebuild has been completed and started providing contribution in the first half already. That explains the solid improvement compared to 2024. I'll turn over the next few pages to Simon.
Thank you, Gerald. At 30th of June 2025, the group's interest in the listed real estate investment trust remained approximately the same as we have at the year-end day 2024. 35.4% in the Vision REIT, which owned and managed 11.8 million square feet of hotels and service suites, office and retail properties on the mainland, and 25.7% in the Fortune REIT, which owned and managed 3 million square feet of retail properties in Hong Kong and Singapore, and 17.6% interest in the Prosperity REIT, which owned and managed 1.3 million square feet of office, retail, and industrial properties in Hong Kong. Vision REIT is an associate, and we share a profit of $77 million for the first half in 2025, and we share a loss of $4 million in the first half in 2024.
For the distribution received from Fortune REIT and Prosperity REIT, $1 million and $7 million for the first half in 2025, which has been recognized as investment income, compared with $113 million in the first half in 2024. For the gearing and maturity profile, the group hedge bank and other loans amounted to $54.4 billion at 30th of June 2025, of which $11 billion would be repayable within one year, $37.5 billion within two to five years, and $5.9 billion beyond five years. Taking into account our cash on hand, bank balance, and deposits of $33 billion, we have a net debt of $21.4 billion. It was 5.4% for the net debt-to-shareholders fund ratio, and for the net debt-to-net total capital ratio, it was 5%. Currently, Moody's gives us an A2 stable credit rating, and for S&P, we have an A stable credit rating.
Our land bank at 30th of June 2025, a total of 124 million square feet. 67 million sq ft was held for the underdevelopment. Six million located in Hong Kong, 58 million sq ft on the mainland, and 3 million square feet overseas. A 22 million sq ft was held for rental, with 13 million sq ft in Hong Kong and 4 million sq ft on the mainland, 5 million sq ft overseas. 9 million sq ft was held for hotel and service suite operation, with 8 million sq ft in Hong Kong, 1 million sq ft on the mainland, and 26 million sq ft of pub properties was held for pub operation in the United Kingdom. Overall, 27 million sq ft was located in Hong Kong, and 63 million sq ft was on the mainland, 34 million sq ft located overseas.
That is the end of our presentation, and now we'll open the floor, a virtual floor, for questions. Sophia will be our moderator, and then I will try to direct traffic. Simon and I will take on these questions one by one. Thank you for all your questions, by the way.
Right, thank you very much, Mr. Ma and Mr. Man, for the presentation. The questions, I've tried to consolidate them by topic, and let's start with the group's earnings. The first question, "what is your view on earnings in the next few years, particularly your earnings from development operations?"
Maybe Simon will take this one.
Okay, sure. Earnings from our recurring income businesses will continue to be strong, supported by contributions from our investment property portfolio, hotel and service suite operation, infrastructure and utility asset operation, and pub operation, etc. However, earnings from our development operations in the next few years will not be significant.
Thank you, Mr. Man. We have received some interest on our capital allocation strategy. "What is the company's capital allocation strategy for the remainder of the year? Are there plans for share buybacks, increased dividends, or new acquisitions? Does CKA still consider maintaining a war chest a priority?"
I'll take on this one. I think the overriding principle is that we're not going to expand or invest at the expense of leverage, and we have no issue keeping a bit more cash or having a very low gearing. The macro environment is very uncertain, although it looks like interest rates from last night, it looks like interest rates in the U.S. will go down pretty quickly. We are going to be very careful in managing our cash flow. On the other hand, we are generating a significant amount of cash each year, so we do have plenty of resources to make new investments. You do see quite a bit of coverage on us being interested in bidding for new sites. We did bid for the Twin Moon sites. We didn't win or enter into corporate lending transactions. We are interested in that.
All subject to returns and price being attractive, we are keen to invest more in commercial and retail properties and land sites in Hong Kong. We like buybacks as well, although our share price has gone up a bit. As for dividends, it will continue to be linked to current year profit and medium-term outlook. I do see a question, a couple of questions online talking about whether dividend will be linked to the profit that we will book for the UK rail. It's not going to be too significant, so I don't think it will be connected in that sense. For you to take home as a guidance, dividend is linked to current year profit and overall outlook in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Ma. There is a follow-up question received on the group's acquisition strategy. "What are the key criteria for new investments and acquisitions? Are there specific sectors or regions being prioritized for expansion in the near term?"
We are very much focused on returns and risks rather than sectors or regions. Investing in a business, a building, or lending against an asset or a business that can generate an annuity on an attractive return over and above our cost of capital, that's what is most appealing to us. In Hong Kong, as I said earlier, we are interested in land replenishment, property investments, and corporate lending transactions. We are very keen to put some money to work in Hong Kong, [Foreign language].
Okay, switching gears to the topic of Hong Kong's property market. "What is your view on the Hong Kong residential property market? How will you pace and price your upcoming launches? As the group has received pre-sale consent for Victoria Blossom for a while, when will you be launching this project?"
In the last couple of months, volume in the primary market, especially smaller units, has picked up and is largely supported by the lower highball environment. Price momentum is still lacking due to the high inventory level. Developers are still focused on clearing their stock, so launch pricing should continue to be generous. Victoria Blossom, you've seen some coverage recently, will be launched as soon as we're ready. The smaller units should be quite popular, and the sales team obviously will do their very best to generate a decent response. Connected with that, I saw some questions on the amount of provision we took on Victoria Blossom together with Blue Coast. It's roughly altogether HKD 1.1 billion.
Thank you, Mr. Ma. Could you give us an update on the completion schedule of the Anderson Road Project?
Simon?
Okay. We are working with the relevant government departments to find the best way forward, and a delay of the project completion date cannot be avoided. The impact on CKA 's operation is small.
Right. Thank you very much, Mr. Man.|" Continuing on the topic of property, given how property transactions and prices have been trending, what kind of development margins should we expect for the full year, as we will likely have more development bookings in the second half as Blue Coast is completed?"
For the second half year, we have the Coastline Phase Two in Hong Kong, Perfect Ten in Singapore, and The Green wich in Beijing, which will make profit contribution. Blue Coast in Hong Kong will be making losses, but sufficient provision for loss has already been made in the interim results.
Thank you. "Moving on to the mainland, the property market on the mainland seemed soft in the first half. What is your strategy to generate sales momentum?"
There are more and more Hong Kong people interested in buying properties in the Greater Bay Area. As such, we have recently launched marketing campaigns for our property projects in the Greater Bay Area, targeting Hong Kong people wanting to buy a second home there. Buyers' responses so far for this Greater Bay Area do leave encamping have been good.
Thank you, Mr. Man. In terms of our rental portfolio, could you please give us some more color, particularly the occupancy of Cheung Kong Center Phase One and Cheung Kong Center Phase Two? Are you seeing more inquiries as there have been more leasing transactions made in the past few months?
The overall occupancy for the Hong Kong investment property portfolio is about 86%. Cheung Kong Center One's occupancy is around 75%, and Cheung Kong Center Two is still not where we like it to be. It is a very competitive market for commercial office properties in Hong Kong, with supply greater than demand and more supply coming up in the next few years. We hope we will make some progress very soon. For our European social infrastructure portfolio in the UK, Germany, and Sweden, they are almost fully occupied. Our overall diversified investment strategy is serving us well. Even in the absence of income from Shanghai Westgate Mall and Tower on the mainland, due to the expiry of the joint venture, our rental contribution for the period continues to be quite resilient.
Switching to a hotels and service suite segment, any comments on the performance of your hotel and service suite division? What is your view on the student apartment opportunity in Hong Kong? Would you consider converting certain residential units or commercial buildings into rental apartments?
Firstly, the performance of our hotel and service suite operation remains solid, with overnight visitor arrivals on the rise. The occupancy for our short-stay hotels and long-stay service suites reached 89.1% and 88.4% respectively in the first half. A few of our service suite properties are located near to universities, and some of our residents are already university students. Yes, we are doing some feasibility studies.
Thank you, Mr. Man. Moving to our overseas operation, could you please give us an update on the German social infrastructure portfolio? Is it performing according to your expectation? Will you be expanding further in Germany, and are there any other countries of interest?
It is absolutely a good addition to our social infrastructure portfolio, and it's performing as expected. As long as the return meets our expectation, we are interested in doing more. Rather than a particular country, I think our focus here is investing in stable jurisdictions that can provide a long-term triple net annuity that is directly or indirectly backed by government funding.
Thank you, Mr. Ma. Moving on to the pub division in the UK, the pub division has been performing slightly better compared with last year. What is your outlook for the remainder of 2025? Are you seeing further cost headwinds that might hurt margins, and what is the outlook for the business for the rest of the year?
The team is working really hard to improve efficiency on all fronts. So far, we are able to protect operating margins, and we are now heading towards the busiest and hopefully the best part of the year, fingers crossed. In terms of headwinds, there's a bit of pressure on the price of raw materials, cost of goods sold, namely the price of beef, meat. Fingers crossed that the second half will be a much better period for us.
In terms of CKA 's infrastructure and utility division, your infrastructure and utility division has recorded year-on-year growth in contribution. What are your longer-term plans for the sector, and could you provide us with some updates on potential divestments? Also, are you seeing good opportunities for further expansion in the infrastructure segment?
Our infrastructure division, which focuses on investing in and operating essential, hopefully essential industries that generate a steady annuity, has proven to be very resilient in the past few years. Subject to projects meeting our return threshold, we are very interested in doing more. In July, a JV between CK A and our other sister group companies agreed to dispose of the entire interest of Eversholt UK Rails. CK A 's indirect interest is only 20%, and that's why I said earlier that the disposal gain will not be huge, but we will get back a few billion Hong Kong Dollars worth of capital, which would be great. There's no additional update on divestment or new investment at this point, other than what's been announced.
Thank you, Gerald. We have received a question about our financing activities. With the recent issuance under the Euro Medium Term Note Programme, how is CK Asset managing its debt maturity profile and liquidity position?
We have not issued notes for quite a while, or bonds for quite a while, and there's quite a bit of demand from the market. If we see pricing that we deem as attractive, we will print a few more to diversify our funding sources. Any more questions?
No, I think we have pretty much covered everything that's been submitted online for us.
Thank you for joining us, and Simon and I look forward to seeing you in our final results. Thank you very much.