New World Pulls Back Following Fiscal Year Report -- Market Talk

0507 GMT - New World Development (0017.HK) has turned lower as the midday release of FY results included an 11% earnings drop. Shares had risen some 7% this month amid hopes about a faster pace of farmland conversion in Hong Kong as the government there moves to boost housing supply. The developer says it has 17 million square feet of farmland pending conversion, on top of a residential and commercial land bank with gross floor area of 10 million square feet in the city. With HK$97.2 billion ($12.5 billion) of cash and bank facilities on hand, New World has no plan to raise funds in the equities market and will consider options such as stock buybacks to boost shareholders' returns, it adds. Shares fall 2.1%, erasing the week's gains. (joanne.chiu@wsj.com; @joannechiuhk)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2017 01:22 ET (05:22 GMT)