CK Hutchison posts 11% fall in profit as Panama ports deal saga ramps up

By Clare Jim

HONG KONG (Reuters) -CK Hutchison on Thursday reported an 11% drop in underlying profit for 2024, as one of Hong Kong's most powerful conglomerates becomes increasingly embroiled in a political row over the sale of its ports business to a BlackRock-led consortium.

The telecoms-to-retail conglomerate, owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, said this month it had agreed to sell most of its global ports business, including assets near the strategically important Panama Canal, in a deal that would garner the firm more than $19 billion in cash.

Its shares initially rallied after the deal, with investors cheering the high purchase price. They had expected management would give indications at Thursday's earnings conferences about how it would reinvest the proceeds and whether it would pay a special dividend.

The company, however, cancelled its post-earnings media and analyst conferences in a rare move following criticism over the deal from the government in Beijing.

CK Hutchison made no mention of the ports deal in its earnings statement, although it said "geopolitical and trade tensions have ... risen significantly."

"The operating environment for the Group’s businesses is expected to be both volatile and unpredictable," it said in the statement.

China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office has reposted two state media commentaries depicting the deal as a betrayal of China and contrary to its national interests, fuelling speculation as to whether China could take steps to try to scupper the sale.

The deal has become highly politicised, with U.S. President Donald Trump hailing it after previously calling for the Panama Canal to be removed from what he says is Chinese control.

CK Hutchison has said the deal is "purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports".

Analysts have said the deal would represent a significant strategy shift because it would leave ports contributing only about 1% of the conglomerate's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITA), down from 15%.

Even before the sale, CK Hutchison's infrastructure and telecom businesses contributed a significant portion of the group's profit, despite it being the world's largest privately owned port operator.

Li has been diversifying his business outside of Hong Kong and mainland China since the 1980s and now only about 12% of CK Hutchison's revenue is from Hong Kong and China, with the remainder from Europe, the rest of Asia Pacific and Canada.

CK Hutchison reported an underlying profit of HK$20.828 billion ($2.68 billion) for 2024, compared with HK$23.5 billion a year earlier.

The ports deal is not yet final as the agreement is for negotiations on an exclusive basis for 145 days.

If it materialises, ratings agency Fitch expects CK Hutchison's revenue, EBITDA levels and margins will decrease slightly, but said its business lines and geographic contributions will remain well-diversified.

($1 = 7.7713 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, Lincoln Feast and Susan Fenton)