Result preview: Mild earnings drop expected
- Underlying interim earnings expected to fall modestly by 5%.
- Lower retail rental income expected due to temporary rental relief.
- Residential profit booking from China a swing factor on earnings.
Hongkong Land will announce its interim results for FY22 on 28 July. We forecast the company’s underlying earnings to fall 5% to US$373m. Interim DPS is expected to stay unchanged at US$0.06.
We forecast rental income to be 3% lower. This was mainly due to lower retail income as the company provided temporary rental relief to those tenants impacted by the COVID resurgence in Hong Kong. Its Central office portfolio also suffered from negative reversion growth. Residential profit booking from China should be a swing factor on overall earnings.
Key things to watch for include vacancy and rental growth of Central’s office/retail portfolios, the company’s outlook of commercial leasing demand in Hong Kong, residential sales and its market outlook in China, among others.