HONG KONG, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) operator announced that the company saw a year-on-year drop of 25.5 percent on annual profit last year amid the six-month-long social unrest, which has brought an adverse impact of 2.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (296 million U.S. dollars) for the company.
MTR released a report about its performance last year on Thursday, showing that in last fiscal year ended Dec. 31 in 2019, the total revenue for the company reached 54.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.01 billion U.S. dollars), and the net profit was 11.9 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.53 billion U.S. dollars).
It was the most challenging year in the company's 40-year history, particularly for its Hong Kong railway operations and projects, as the social unrest across Hong Kong had damaged the railway network, which brought an adverse financial impact of 2.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, MTR CEO Jacob Kam said in a statement.
The report revealed that for Hong Kong transport operations in 2019, MTR weekday patronage fell to 5.61 million, a drop of 4.5 percent from 2018. The total patronage recorded 2.5 percent growth in the first half of 2019, but a 14.8 percent decrease in the second half.
As for the first two months in 2020, the company's total rail and bus patronage under Hong Kong transport operations was down 34 percent compared to the same period in 2019, mainly due to the impact of COVID-19 outbreak and the aftermath effect of social events, Kam added.
