Shui On Construction and Materials was badly affected by the depressed property and construction sectors in the six months to September, as it suffered a net loss of HK$17 million.
The company made a net profit of HK$72 million in the same period last year.
'The property and construction sectors are experiencing the most severe and extended downturn in Hong Kong's history,' chairman Vincent Lo Hong-sui said yesterday.
'The drastic reduction of public and private sector works has further intensified the already very severe competition, and tender prices at negative margins were not uncommon.'
Turnover dived 41 per cent to HK$1.18 billion from HK$2 billion in the same period last year.
Profit from the company's construction division plunged to HK$27 million from HK$66 million, executive director Raymond Wong Fook-lam said.
