Hutchison Whampoa, the conglomerate controlled by Asia's richest businessman, Mr Li Ka-shing, posted a 2 per cent rise in first-half profits yesterday as losses at its European mobile phone businesses offset growth in its ports and retail arms.
The firm, which is building a third-generation (3G) mobile network in the Republic, booked a $500 million (€456 million) start-up loss for its 3G service in the first half .
However, it stuck to its target of signing up a million users each in Britain and Italy by year-end, a goal which observers believe is optimistic.
Hutchison has been discounting 3G voice services deeply, especially in Britain, to win over users who have been underwhelmed by the technology's video capabilities.
The firm said yesterday it had ordered three million handsets for the autumn and winter seasons. "Of course we are very confident. Otherwise, why do we bother to order three million handsets this year?" says managing director Mr Canning Fok.
Hutchison 3G Ireland is scheduled to begin offering mobile phone services to Irish customers before the end of 2003.
Meanwhile, Mr Fok also said Hutchison planned to list its fast-growing mobile phone operations in India next year, as well as its Hong Kong fixed-line telecoms business.
Hutchison said that, to date, it had enlisted 520,000 3G users worldwide, including Australia.
Mr Li also predicted 3G sales would be "no less than half a million per month" in the coming months.
The company - which is the world's biggest container ports operator, has vast holdings in retail and property, and a 35 per cent stake in Canadian oil firm Husky Energy - reported net profit of 6.07 billion Hong Kong dollars (€707 million) for the six months ended June 30th.
That compares with HK$5.95 billion a year earlier, and lagged analysts' forecasts.
The results included net exceptional gains of HK$1.92 billion from asset sales, despite a HK$3.1 billion loss for writing down its stake in bankrupt telecoms firm Global Crossing. - (Additional reporting Reuters)
