Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP) today announced its 2020/21 interim results.

During the period under review, the COVID-19 pandemic continued erratically and the external environment remained uncertain.  Despite this, SHKP managed to run its businesses smoothly and achieved steady performance.  The hotel business, however, was seriously impacted by the pandemic. 

In keeping with the Group’s core belief in ‘Building Homes with Heart’, SHKP staff showed great commitment to maintaining business operations throughout the pandemic.  Frontline staff, in particular, have worked tirelessly to safeguard the health and safety of residents, tenants, customers and employees with comprehensive hygiene measures. SHKP has also provided appropriate and timely support for tenants to help facilitate their businesses. The pandemic has also driven the Group to adopt creative and innovative ideas.  SHKP took proactive steps to better understand market trends and listen to customers’ views, especially their requirements for environmental conservation, community integration and innovative technology.  These steps have helped the Group maintain its market leadership by continuously improving building quality and services.

Given the pandemic’s negative impact on Hong Kong’s shopping mall business, the Group leveraged The Point by SHKP — a loyalty programme with over one million members — as well as a variety of online and offline promotions, to drive footfall and boost sales.  These initiatives helped mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the mall tenants.  On the mainland, however, SHKP’s shopping malls performed well, thanks to the mainland’s effective pandemic containment and fast economic recovery.  The results in recent months have surpassed the corresponding period last year.

The Group has been actively supporting the government’s anti-pandemic measures and is pleased to see the recent easing of dine-in service restrictions in restaurants amid reduced rates of infection.  However, for the Group’s businesses and the overall economy to fully recover, the upcoming mass vaccination programme must be effectively carried out among the wider population to bring the pandemic under control, and ultimately allow resumption of cross-border travel between Hong Kong, the mainland and nearby regions.

The Group will continue to look for suitable land acquisition opportunities in Hong Kong and on the mainland, and focus on developing a number of large-scale integrated landmark projects, including the project atop the High Speed Rail West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong, ITC in Shanghai, Nanjing IFC and the Jianghehui project in Hangzhou.  With new projects coming on stream in the next four years, the Group’s properties for rent and investment on the mainland will substantially increase from around 15 million square feet to over 25 million square feet.

The Group remains confident in the long-term prospects of Hong Kong and the mainland.  Under ‘One Country, Two Systems’, Hong Kong is well positioned to benefit from the continuous growth of the Greater Bay Area and the anticipated recovery of the global economy.  SHKP firmly believes that Hong Kong, with its time-tested economic resilience, solid work ethic, cultural diversity and world-standard business practices, will remain a premier financial, trade and business hub for both the mainland and the world.

Hong Kong has experienced a relatively long period of difficulties and challenges since the social incidents in mid-2019 followed by the COVID-19 outbreak that has lasted over a year.  In the short term, the business environment is likely to remain challenging.  Nevertheless, SHKP has been operating in the city for over half a century and has weathered many crises together with the people of Hong Kong.  The Group is confident that Hong Kong will eventually overcome the pandemic.  The Group is fully prepared to capture the development opportunities as soon as the economy is back on track.

Please click here for details of the SHKP’s 2020/21 Interim Results.