Offshore operations boost earnings for Power Assets
Turnover grew 2 per cent to HK$10.42 billion, thanks to a 1 per cent increase in the average basic tariff and a 1 per cent gain in unit sales of electricity in Hong Kong, the company said.
Net profit at Power Assets, the power firm controlled by Li Ka-shing, rose 7 per cent last year to HK$9.73 billion.
Turnover grew 2 per cent to HK$10.42 billion, thanks to a 1 per cent increase in the average basic tariff and a 1 per cent gain in unit sales of electricity in Hong Kong, the company said.
Net profit from operations outside Hong Kong surged 11.9 per cent to HK$5.11 billion, while that from operations in the city grew 2.4 per cent to HK$4.62 billion.
"Our international businesses, spearheaded by our operations in [Britain], now account for over half of our total earnings," Power Assets chairman Canning Fok Kin-ning said.
The firm now has investments in power generation, transmission and distribution, as well as gas distribution, in Britain, Australia, mainland China, New Zealand, Thailand and Canada, apart from its base in Hong Kong.
Together with a joint venture in renewable energy transmission in Australia since September and the acquisition in October of a 30 per cent stake in British gas distributor Wales & West Utilities, Power Assets serves more than 15 million customers worldwide and has interests in over 10,000 megawatts of power generation assets and more than 440,000 kilometres of power and gas networks.