MTR’s Second-Half Result Likely To Show Recovery in Underlying Operations

MTR provided a generally positive outlook in its pre-close meeting ahead of the firm’s second-half fiscal 2021 result. Domestic passenger traffic had mostly recovered to 90% of the pre-pandemic level, prior to the latest omicron variant outbreak. A recovery in domestic passenger traffic also resulted in improvement in some station commercial related revenue, mainly in advertising. A recovery in rents for station kiosks and investment properties is expected to take longer, though negative rental reversions slowed in the second half of fiscal 2021, compared with the first half.