Turnaround in 3G arm raises Hutchison's net
By Donny Kwok |
March 30, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HUTCHISON Whampoa Ltd, billionaire Li Ka-shing's ports-to-telecoms flagship company, beat expectations with a 47 percent rise in 2010 net earnings, driven in part by a turnaround in its long-struggling 3G telecom arm.
The third-generation telecom business, which has been losing money over the past decade, will be a profit contributor for the group from 2011, said Canning Fok, managing director of the conglomerate, which also invests in retail, hotels, energy and infrastructure sectors.
"The business will push the company forward from now on, instead of pulling back the firm," Fok told reporters at the firm's results briefing.
Chairman Li told reporters that he is upbeat about the group's overall business prospect.
"All of our existing businesses will see organic growth. I am optimistic in the short, medium and long term," Li said.
Hutchison on Tuesday reported a net profit of HK$20.04 billion (US$2.58 billion) for 2010. This was 47 percent higher than the restated profit of HK$13.63 billion for 2009, and HK$16.03 billion analysts had forecast for 2010.
Hutchison's 3G had been a drag on Hutchison's overall business performance and its stock prices for much of the past decade.
But hopes of a turnaround of the 3G business have been lending support to the company's share price in the past year. Its shares are up about 11 percent this year, outperforming an about 0.25 percent gain in the Hang Seng Index . The stock ended down 2.09 percent at HK$88.8 ahead of the company's results announcement yesterday.
Hutchison, whose telecoms business includes 3G network operations in Britain, Italy, Australia and other countries, had said its 3G business would make a positive contribution to the group's full-year EBIT after losses narrowed in the first half.
The company's 3G network operator, 3 Group, competes with Britain's biggest mobile operator, Everything Everywhere - a joint venture of France Telecom's Orange and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile. It also competes with Telefonica's O2 and Vodafone .
The third-generation telecom business, which has been losing money over the past decade, will be a profit contributor for the group from 2011, said Canning Fok, managing director of the conglomerate, which also invests in retail, hotels, energy and infrastructure sectors.
"The business will push the company forward from now on, instead of pulling back the firm," Fok told reporters at the firm's results briefing.
Chairman Li told reporters that he is upbeat about the group's overall business prospect.
"All of our existing businesses will see organic growth. I am optimistic in the short, medium and long term," Li said.
Hutchison on Tuesday reported a net profit of HK$20.04 billion (US$2.58 billion) for 2010. This was 47 percent higher than the restated profit of HK$13.63 billion for 2009, and HK$16.03 billion analysts had forecast for 2010.
Hutchison's 3G had been a drag on Hutchison's overall business performance and its stock prices for much of the past decade.
But hopes of a turnaround of the 3G business have been lending support to the company's share price in the past year. Its shares are up about 11 percent this year, outperforming an about 0.25 percent gain in the Hang Seng Index . The stock ended down 2.09 percent at HK$88.8 ahead of the company's results announcement yesterday.
Hutchison, whose telecoms business includes 3G network operations in Britain, Italy, Australia and other countries, had said its 3G business would make a positive contribution to the group's full-year EBIT after losses narrowed in the first half.
The company's 3G network operator, 3 Group, competes with Britain's biggest mobile operator, Everything Everywhere - a joint venture of France Telecom's Orange and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile. It also competes with Telefonica's O2 and Vodafone .
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