Swire Pacific will spend HK$13bn in the next five years to expand its investment property portfolio by 50% after reporting a 77.5% drop in net profit last year.

The blue-chip conglomerate yesterday announced a net profit of HK$5.9bn for the year to December due to a HK$3.55bn loss from Cathay Pacific Airways and a 99.08% decline in revaluation gain on investment properties to HK$177m.

On Wednesday, Cathay, of which Swire owns 40%, reported a record loss of HK$8.56bn for last year.

Although Swire's profit beat the median estimate of HK$3.85bn from 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, it was the smallest since 2003 when it reported a HK$4.92bn profit.

South China Morning Post