HONG KONG, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong developer Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd, owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing, saw its net profits up 52.7 percent to 53.87 billion HK dollars (6.95 billion U.S. dollars) for the year ended December 2014.
The profit rise was mainly attributed to the sale of an electricity subsidiary and a jump in the value of Cheung Kong's real estate.
Turnovers went down 3 percent year-on-year to 31.22 billion HK dollars. A final dividend of 3.016 HK dollars per share was declared.
Shares of Cheung Kong closed up 0.7 percent ahead of the results versus a 0.5 percent rise in the benchmark index.
At the press conference, Li Ka-shing called on Hong Kong people to support the government's political reform package, saying economic prosperity cannot be sustained, if "politics is bad".
He said if the reform package is not passed, everybody, including himself, would be a big loser. He said any responsible person who loves Hong Kong should allow it to go ahead, so that 5 million eligible citizens can vote for their leader.
Li also warned that if Hong Kong pulled the plug on the individual travel scheme and stopped all mainland visitors from coming, there is a danger that the stock market might be hit.
