Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa today reported that its 3 Group narrowed its loss in the first half of 2010 by 82 percent and the company continues to expect the division “to make a positive contribution to the Group’s full-year EBIT results this year.” LBIT (Losses Before Interest & Taxes) at the third-generation mobile unit – which has networks in the UK and Ireland, Italy, Australia, Sweden and Denmark, and Austria – came in at HK$998 million (US$129 million), a huge improvement on the HK$5.5 billion loss in the first half of 2009. The unit’s customer base stood at 27.8 million as of end June 2010, a 6 percent increase. 5 million of those connections are ‘mobile broadband access customers’ (generally defined as connections via datacards, dongles, USB modems and embedded laptops), a 16 percent increase. ARPU, on a 12-month trailing average active customer basis, increased 1 percent to EUR28.58, compared to full year 2009. After translation to Hong Kong dollars, 3 Group’s total revenue increased 13 percent to HK$29.9 billion.

Hutchison Whampoa as a whole reported an 8 percent rise in revenue, to HK$152.9 billion, and a 12 percent rise in net income, to HK$6.45 billion. This was thanks to good earnings growth in port and retail operations and the narrowed loss at its 3G unit. Billionaire chairman Li Ka-shing described the group’s global operations performance in the first half of 2010 as satisfactory.