Total MTR patronage hit a record high of 867 million passengers, an increase of 3% over the previous year, the Mass Transit Railway says.

Announcing its audited results for 2005 today, the MTR said it achieved strong financial results in 2005 with contributions from all its businesses.

Total MTR revenue hit $9.15 billion, 9.6% higher than previous year, while net profit attributable to equity shareholders, excluding revaluation of investment properties and net of deferred tax, rose 36.7% to $6.14 billion.

Fare revenue for the MTR Lines rose 5.6%, to $5.72 billion, while that for the Airport Express Line increased 8.9%, to $561 million.

Non-fare revenue jumps 18%

Non-fare revenue, including advertising, telecommunications, station commercial business, property rental and management income as well as income from consultancy business, grew 18.7% to $2.87 billion.

In 2005, the MTR group's investment property revaluation yielded a profit of $2.8 billion pre-tax. Including investment-property revaluation, net profit attributable to equity shareholders of MTR Corporation rose 29.1% to $8.45 billion with earnings per share increasing 26% to $1.55.

The MTR group has recommended a final dividend of $0.28 which, when combined with the interim dividend of $0.14, brings the full year dividend to $0.42.