Allied Group (00373) issues profit warning

    Allied Group (00373) said its unaudited consolidated profit for the six months ended 30 June 2016 will show a significant decrease as compared to the corresponding period in 2015.
  Such decrease is primarily due to lower earnings of wholly-owned subsidiary Sun Hung Kai & Co, (SHK)(00086) and lower revaluation gains from investment properties of the Group during the period.
  The primary reasons for decrease in profit of SHK are as follows: (1) during the six months ended 30 June 2015 there was a non-recurring profit of HK$3,033 million from the sale of 70% of the Sun Hung Kai Financial Group Limited (SHKFGL) business to Everbright Securities Financial Holdings; (2) as a result of this sale, SHK's share of the profit from the SHKFGL business reduced from 100% to 30%. In addition, the profit for the period from continuing operations of SHK has decreased by 50% as a result mainly of (3) net mark-to-market losses from financial investments in SHK's principal investments segment
in the context of weaker financial markets during the period and (4) the continuing difficult operating environment for SHK's consumer finance business in Mainland China.