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Hutchison said that profits for the first half of the year were HKD5.95 billion (EUR782 million), or HKD1.40 a share. Although this was a drop of 17 percent from the same period a year ago, the average analyst's prediction was for profits of HKD4.6 billion.
The results at the company were boosted by a net one-time gain of HKD1.52 billion from the sale of equity interests in a number of its port operations.
The Hong Kong-based company also recorded a rise in sales from HKD43.4 billion in the first half to 2001 to HKD46.6 billion for the six-month period to June 2002.
Sales in its telecom division were up almost 25 percent to HKD6.4 billion, while its retail and manufacturing units were up 12 percent to HKD16.4 billion. Port revenues increased 36 percent to HKD9.4 billion.
Hutchison, which is a newcomer to the Irish market, unexpectedly won Ireland's "A" 3G licence in June from under the noses of Vodafone and O2. The licence, which is for 20 years, requires 53 percent coverage of the population by 2005 and 80 percent coverage by 2007, and cost EUR50.7 million.
In relation to its Irish 3G licence, Hutchison in its results said only that "synergies between the Ireland and UK 3G operations are expected to enhance the profitability of the two countries' operations."
Hutchison said that its subsidiary, Hutchison 3G UK, is in the final stage of its network roll-out and testing, and that it is planning to have 3,500 cell sites when it commences operations, which should cover half of the population there.
Despite Hutchison's positive noises, critics say the company will be hard pressed to meet its stated deadline at the end of this year to sign up UK customers for 3, its 3G service. The company is still battling technical problems that could lead to dropped calls for 3G users, and it reportedly won't resolve problems with call handover between 3G and 2G networks until next year.
As well as owning 3G licences in Ireland and the UK, Hutchison also holds a licence in Italy. In total, it said it spent HKD729 million during the period on setting up offices and other costs related to the start-up of 3G networks in Europe. It reported no write-downs on these investments.
However, it did write down the value of its 2.1 percent stakes in Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom by HKD11.13 billion.
"Equity markets were volatile and continued to decline, which has adversely affected the group's remaining investments in Vodafone Group and Deutsche Telekom," said the company's chairman Li Ka-shing in a statement.
"These long-term investments will be reviewed as part of the group's year-end closing procedures and, if it is determined that a permanent diminution in value has occurred, a provision will be recorded in the profit and loss account at that time," he added.
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