LONDON (Alliance News) - Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd said Friday its interim net profit dropped due to unrealised fair value losses related to non-current investments.
Jardine Matheson is the holding company of Jardine Pacific, Jardine Motors and Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group PLC among others.
For the six months to June 30, the company posted net profit down 57% to USD928 million from USD2.17 billion. On an adjusted basis, net profit increased 6.5% to USD792 million from USD744 million year-on-year.
The sharp drop in profit was due to a net loss of USD157 million on unrealised losses related to past investments, the company explained. A year ago, the company generated a non-trading gain of USD1.43 billion.
Pretax profit also dropped 10% to USD2.74 billion from USD3.02 billion reported in the same period last year. Revenue increased 14% to USD21.32 billion from USD18.78 billion.
"After a good performance in the first half of 2018 driven primarily by Astra and Jardine Cycle & Carriage, we are optimistic for a stronger second half of the year, with these companies continuing to perform well and the contributions of other businesses expected to improve," Chairman Henry Keswick said.
The company lifted its interim dividend by 5% to 42.0 pence per share from 40p issued last year.
Jardine Matheson shares were trading down 5.6% on Friday at a price of USD63.30 each.
Jardine Math.br (JARB)