Cheung Kong Holdings profit down 13 pct to $1.7 bln

The profit for Cheung Kong ( Holdings) Limited, a conglomerate run by billionaire Li Ka-shing, fell 13 percent year-on-year to 13.4 billion HK dollars (about 1.7 billion U.S. dollars) for the first half of this year, the company said on Thursday.

The decline was mainly due to uncertain pace of global economic recovery and the dropping profit from property sales, the company said.

Revenue slid 17 percent from a year ago to 14.7 billion HK dollars, and the earnings per share decreased 13 percent to 5.79 HK dollars. The company declared an interim dividend of 0.58 HK dollars per share, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier.

Looking ahead, the company expects an overall positive performance in 2013 as their overseas investments mature.

Shares of Cheung Kong (Holdings) rose 2.4 percent to end at 111. 60 HK dollars on Thursday.