Hutchison Whampoa posts its first profit (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing has stated that his high-speed mobile-phone business has posted its first profit after losing $20 billion over seven years.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd announced that its annual net income rose by  47{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} to a three-year high of $20 billion. Li stated that the company’s phone business will make a positive contribution from now on after losses through 2009.
According to Kalai Pillay, a Senior Director at Fitch Ratings in Singapore, who assesses Hutchison’s debt, not losing more money in 3G is good news but this business never really became the cash-earner that they had expected when they first went into it.
As per reports, 3 Group, Hutchison’s division that offers 3G mobile-phone services in seven markets in Europe and Australia, had $157 billion of losses before interest and tax between 2003 and 2009.