CK Hutchison posted a seven per cent rise in 2025 underlying profit on Thursday, as the market awaits updates on the company's proposed sale of its ports business and other spin-off plans.
The Hong Kong ports-to-telecoms conglomerate reported underlying profit of HK$22.3 billion ($2.85 billion) on a post-IFRS 16 basis. That compared with an HK$22.9 billion LSEG SmartEstimate and the HK$20.8 billion booked a year earlier.
Including a one-time non-cash accounting loss, net profit fell 31 per cent from a year earlier to HK$11.84 billion.
The conglomerate, owned by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing, has been caught up in a diplomatic to-and-fro since US President Donald Trump objected to Chinese ownership of ports along the globally strategic Panama Canal.
Last year, the company agreed to the $23 billion sale of dozens of ports worldwide, including two near the Panama Canal, to a consortium led by US asset manager BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Company.
It later said it was in talks for the consortium to include a "major strategic investor", which sources identified as China's COSCO.
The deal was further complicated this year after Panama's government moved to unwind a concession agreement that gave control of the two terminals to CK Hutchison unit Panama Ports Company, which has since challenged the action.
Analysts said a sale would represent a significant strategy shift as ports' contribution to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation would fall to one per cent from 15 per cent.
CK Hutchison also derives a significant portion of profit from infrastructure and telecommunications.
(Reporting by Roushni Nair and Clare Jim; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jane Merriman)