2010-08-11 15:43

The Hong Kong-listed China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd, said first-half profit rose 67 percent after it earned more from home sales in the mainland.

Net income increased to HK$5.07 billion ($653 million), or 62 Hong Kong cents a share, from HK$3.04 billion, or 37.3 Hong Kong cents a share, a year earlier, the company said in a Hong Kong stock exchange statement Wednesday. Sales climbed to HK$17.6 billion from HK$15.5 billion.

China Overseas said Tuesday property sales rose 21 percent in July from a year earlier even as the Chinese government cracks down on real estate speculation to prevent asset bubbles. Real estate prices were unchanged last month from June, according to the statistics bureau.

"It is likely that transaction volumes of property sales will come down further in the second-half," China Overseas Chairman Kong Qingping said in the statement.

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Profit was boosted by a HK$300 million gain from selling three projects developed by the company to a real estate fund it set up in March.

China's property prices rose at the slowest pace in six months in July as the government cracks down on real estate speculation to prevent asset bubbles even as the economy slows. China Vanke Co, the nation's largest listed developer, said this week prices are "gradually weakening" in some cities.

The developer's shares have risen 0.4 percent this year, in-line with the seven-member Hang Seng Property Index. The stock fell 0.4 percent to HK$16.46 at the noon trading break in Hong Kong, before earnings were announced.

Chairman Kong said in March that 2010 profit growth may reach at least 20 percent. Property sales in China may fall, while home prices will remain firm, he said.

China Overseas' property sales rose to HK$5 billion in July, the company said earlier. For the first seven months of 2010, property sales climbed 8.9 percent to HK$33.1 billion.