(Alliance News) - Investment company Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd said on Friday that its pretax profit rose in the first six months of the year despite a 5% fall in revenue.
Jardine Matheson has interests in a range of businesses including grocer Dairy Farm International Holdings and property developer Hongkong Land.
The company also had interests in employee benefits firm Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group PLC before it sold its holding in the company for USD2.08 billion net on April 1.
In the six months to June 30, revenue dropped to USD20.17 billion from USD21.33 billion and pretax profit rose 29% year-on-year to USD3.61 billion from USD2.79 billion. The rise in pretax profit was attributed to a larger income from non-trading items, including the sale of Jardine Lloyd Thompson.
Jardine Matheson said income from non-trading items, rose to USD1.49 billion from USD439.0 million, but there was a USD57.0 million reduction in fair value of its investment properties.
The company's underlying profit, which does not include non-trading items, fell 3% to USD738 million from USD759.0 million.
Gross revenue, which includes income from associates and joint ventures, was up 13% to USD50.27 billion from USD44.35 billion.
By product and service, revenue fell 45% year-on-year in the property division to USD822.0 million from USD1.51 billion, in the motor vehicles unit by 6% to USD7.41 billion from USD7.90 billion and in retail and restaurants by 2% to USD6.12 billion from USD6.27 billion.
In its hotel services, revenue fell 9% to USD279.0 million from USD307.0 million but in financial services, revenue rose 2% to USD710.0 million from USD699.0 million. Revenue from other sources totalled USD1.56 billion, down from 1.60 billion.
The company raised its interim dividend per share by 5% to USD0.44 from USD0.42.
Shares in Jardine Matheson were down 1.2% at 60.85 pence each in London on Friday afternoon.
Jardine Math.br (JARB)