CK Asset Profit Drops 26% on Falling Asset Values Amid Weak Hong Kong Market

Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings posted HK$6.3 billion ($806 million) in attributable profit for the first six months of 2025, a 26.2 percent drop from a year earlier, as declining property values undermined the developer’s balance sheet. 

The owner of regional landmarks such as the Cheung Kong Center in Hong Kong’s Central district and Century Place in Shenzhen took a HK$503 million blow to the fair value of it investment properties, which reversed a HK$1.9 billion increase in the first half of 2024, according to the company’s interim results released Thursday. 

Excluding the markdowns in asset values, profit rose 1.6 percent year-on-year to HK$6.8 billion as  growing contributions from pub operation in the UK and the company’s infrastructure and utility joint ventures in the UK and Europe offset declines in the company’s revenue from property sales and leasing. 

The developer controlled by Hong Kong’s richest man saw revenue rise 12.7 percent year-on-year to HK$39.1 billion during the six-month period.

Driving Sales With Discounts

CK Asset’s property sales in Hong Kong rose to HK$2.8 billion from HK$2.6 billion a year earlier, which included the sales of half of the completed units in phase one of The Coast Line in Yau Tong. Profit however fell sharply to HK$74 million from HK$1.04 billion, with the company attributing the lower margin to discounts used to promote sales in a challenging market.

Although the Hong Kong government announced a reduction of stamp duty in lower-cost homes early in the year and mortgage interest rates fell during the period, market sentiment remained cautious, CK Asset chairman Victor Li said in the filing.

“Housing and land policies and interest rate movements will continue to be determining factors for the property market,” said Li, the billionaire tycoon’s elder son.

In mainland China, property sales jumped to HK$3.8 billion from HK$1.8 billion in the first half of 2024, with the roll out of the most recent phases of its Regency Garden project in Shanghai and The Greenwich development in Beijing contributing to the increase. Profit from mainland property sales doubled to HK$1.5 billion from HK$710 million in the same period last year.

Care Homes Shine

Leasing revenue for the period dipped 3.5 percent year-on-year to HK$2.9 billion while profit from the segment dropped 5 percent year-on-year to HK$2.3 billion, as growth in overseas income, led by the company’s Civitas care home business in Britain, failed to offset declines in Hong Kong and mainland China.

CK Asset acquired Civitas in 2023 for £485 million (then $612 million), giving the group control of 697 UK assets focused on social housing and healthcare. The business contributed to a 0.6 percent year-on-year rise in CK Asset’s overseas rental property income in the first half.

Profit contribution from rental properties in Hong Kong contracted by 3.9 percent as retail and office leasing remained stagnant. On the mainland, profit from the segment plunged 44 percent as the Shanghai Westgate Mall and Tower on West Nanjing Road ceased to provide rental income upon expiry of a joint venture.

In the hotel and serviced suite segment, first-half revenue rose 2.9 percent year-on-year to HK$2.2 billion. The Hong Kong-focused portfolio recorded average occupancy rates of 89 percent for hotels and 88 percent for serviced apartments.

Revenue from the Greene King pub business rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to HK$12.5 billion as the UK-based operation upped prices and the British Pound strengthened during the six-month period.

Resilience in Infrastructure

Revenue from infrastructure and utility businesses, contributed from CK Asset’s joint ventures in overseas markets including the UK, Europe, the US and Canada, rose 8.1 percent year-on-year in the first half to HK$13.6 billion.

Profit from the segment grew 12.3 percent year-on-year to HK$4.6 billion, driven by increasing contributions from joint ventures including CK’s investment in water and sewerage company Northumbrian Water in England and Wales and the company’s holding in European energy management provider Ista Group.