戴德梁行：今日全球楼市速览(2010.03.29)

2. Acxiom Corp – a US-based digital marketing service firm, opened a global service centre in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. Acxiom, with global revenue of about US$1.3bn annually, provides users "direct marketing" services through high-tech methods such as database analysis, customer management and short message and e-mail promotion. (Shanghai Daily).

3. Profit at China's industrial companies more than doubled in the 1st 2 months of 2010 from a year earlier, indicating ample demand and strong growth momentum in manufacturing. A low comparative base was the major contributor to the surge, the National Bureau of Statistics said. It added that profit has returned to levels before the financial crisis. Net earnings of China's industrial companies climbed 119.7% y-o-y to RMB486.7bn in the Jan-Feb period. (Shanghai Daily).

4. The 1st business-aviation service base in the Chinese mainland began operations this month at Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport, a bet on a big future for small planes. The centre will provide ground, repair and maintenance services for business aircraft -- mostly small jets for private or corporate use. China's mainland has nearly 50 business aircraft, 3 times that of 5 years ago. The centre has a terminal, a 4,500 sq m hangar and 3 gate positions for commercial aircraft, enough for 6,000 planes a year. At present, about 2,000 business aircraft take off or land each year at the city's 2 airports. The number is expected to increase 10 to 15% in the near future, according to the Shanghai Airport Authority. The business aviation centre, near the airport's old terminal, will go from trial basis to full operation before the World Expo opens on 1 May, when 16.8 million visitors are expected to arrive by air. Construction began in 2008 and the project passed state civil aviation inspection on 17 March. The centre went operational just a week after the 16 March opening of the airport's Terminal 2. (Shanghai Daily).

5.  Hong Kong-listed Kaisa Group Holdings recorded a 52.2 per cent surge in gross profit to 1.32 billion yuan [HK$1.5 billion] for the year ended December 31, 2009, from 867.1 million yuan in 2008. Revenue increased by 50.2 per cent to 4.67 billion yuan from 3.11 billion yuan a year earlier. (SCMP)

Hong Kong

1.Cheung Kong (Holdings) is expected to post promising profits for last year, underpinned by solid sales from property projects in Hong Kong and on the mainland. These include Celestial Heights, a luxury residential project in Ho Man Tin, and Le Prestige in Tseung Kwan O. Analyst say Cheung Kong’s earnings are expected to show the benefit of strong demand in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary markets over the past year, in line with its peers. (SCMP).

2. Cheung Kong Holdings has sold around 400 homes at Festival City since Friday and along the way has boosted sales at nearby primary projects. The apartments in Tai Wai fetched from HK$8,000 to HK$11,000 per square foot, said executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung. Eighty-five percent of local buyers were from the New Territories or Kowloon. (The Standard).