Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine Strategic Holdings have reported lower earnings for 1H20 ended June due to "significant" negative impact arising from Covid-19 and the restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic.
Jardine Matheson and Jardine Strategic both saw earnings for the half-year period decline 49% y-o-y to US$373 million ($513.2 million) and US$395 million respectively.
“As expected, COVID-19 had a significant impact on the Group’s results in the first half, with Southeast Asia particularly affected. It is expected that the pandemic will continue to create uncertainty and volatility in the second half, making it difficult to predict full year performance,” says Ben Keswick, executive chairman of both companies.
Both companies also registered a 11% y-o-y decline in 1H20 gross revenue to US$44.94 billion due to the losses from Mandarin Oriental.
The group says its major businesses remained profitable in the half-year, though at “materially lower levels” than the same period a year ago.
“While there were some signs of recovery in certain of the Group’s businesses in the second quarter (including the Group’s property development and motors businesses on the Chinese mainland), the possibility of further waves of the pandemic makes it difficult to predict performance in the second half,” it says in its statement on July 30.
Within the group’s businesses, Jardine Pacific registered a 5.4% y-o-y decline in underlying net profit to US$53 million.
Hongkong Land registered a US$1.82 billion loss after accounting for a net non-cash loss of US$2.18 billion from the biannual revaluation of investment properties, due to lower open market rents. Without the non-cash loss, Hongkong Land registered a 24% y-o-y decline in underlying profit of US$353 million.
Mandarin Oriental recorded an underlying loss of US$102 million for 1H20 compared to a US$11 million a year ago, despite implanting cost-cutting measures.
The group has proposed an interim dividend of 10.50 US cents per share for 1H20.
As at end June, cash and cash equivalents stood at US$6.73 billion.
Looking ahead, the group says it is “difficult” to predict its performance in 2H20 due to uncertainty on further waves of the pandemic.
Shares in Jardine Matheson closed 8 US cents down to US$40.92, while shares in Jardine Strategic closed 5 US cents up at US$20.20 on Thursday (July 30).
