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Hutchison net profit up 31pc to US$115.7 million as sales fall 6pc

SINGAPORE listed global port operator Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPHT) saw first half net profit attributable to shareholders increase 31 per cent year on year to HK$897.6 million (US$115.7 million), drawn on revenues of HK$5.68 billion, down six per cent.

Despite weak market outlook, overall 2016 first half results of HPH Trust have improved from the first quarter, said the HPH statement. 



"Management remains cautious on the volume outlook for the remainder of the year given the soft global trade outlook and the expected negative consequences of Britain's exit from the European Union," it said. 



Shenzhen's Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) throughput was one per cent below last year. Combined throughput of Hongkong International Terminals (HIT), Cosco-HIT and Asia Container Terminals (ACT) dropped 12 per cent year on year, HPH said.



Outbound cargo to US and EU showed an upward trend in the first half of 2016, but US trade slowed in the second quarter. 



YICT's throughput fell in the first half as transshipments decreased. HIT's decline was due to weaker intra-Asia and fewer transshipments.



"A British vote to leave the European Union posted downside risk to the global economic recovery. It is expected that Britain's economy will be negatively impacted, with knock-on effects in the US and European economies," said the HPH statement. 



"The depreciation of the British pound is expected to reduce Britain's imports from Asia, including China, which have been increasing in the second quarter of 2016," it said.



The company said that despite growth in the first quarter, outbound cargo to US weakened in the second quarter. "The sustainability of US economic growth in the remainder of the year will be the key determinant of a pickup in the US trade.



HPH Trust's performance is also dependent on the outcomes of structural changes occurring in the container shipping industry. 



HIT, as a regional transshipment hub, has been negatively affected by the service rationalisation of various global shipping alliances over the past few quarters and is expected to be under volume pressure in the near term.



HPH, now ranked second among global port operators behind Singapore's PSA, but ahead of Dubai's DP World, Maersk's APMT and Hong Kong's China Merchants, is a private holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.



It is a unit of Hong Kong's CK Hutchison Holdings, formerly Hutchison Whampoa. In April 2006 Hutchison Whampoa sold 20 per cent to PSA but Hutchison Whampoa still owns 80 per cent.
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