Lee Garden Eight Expansion Will Redefine Hong Kong Urban Lifestyle

Key Takeaways

• Expansion of the Lee Garden ecosystem and Shanghai projects enhances revenue stability, occupancy, and retail performance through experiential design and integrated lifestyle offerings.
  
• Embracing digital innovation, green financing, and asset recycling supports operational efficiency, strengthens tenant relationships, and bolsters long-term financial resilience.
  
• Heavy reliance on Hong Kong retail and office assets, moderate diversification, and rising debt servicing costs heighten vulnerability to local market downturns, changing consumption trends, and refinancing challenges.

Catalysts

Hysan’s investment portfolio is set predominantly in Lee Gardens, a unique part of Hong Kong’s renowned commercial heart in Causeway Bay.

• The imminent completion of Lee Garden Eight-a major 1 million sq ft expansion featuring innovative green/experiential design and the largest commercial floor plate on Hong Kong Island-will boost Hysan's retail and office leasable portfolio by ~30% in 2026; this is poised to drive a step change in recurring rental revenue and tenant sales, particularly as the integrated precinct and nearby pedestrian walkway increase daily footfall by an estimated 20%.
  
• The company's long-term investment in creating a mixed-use, lifestyle-focused Lee Gardens ecosystem that blends luxury, curated F&B, wellness, and experiential retail is strongly aligned with ongoing consumer demand for integrated destinations, which should support sustained occupancy, premium rent growth, and improving net margins.
  
• Rapid adoption of digital marketing, loyalty analytics, smart tenant/visitor engagement platforms (AI/data-driven targeting, member programs, advanced campaign management) is strengthening customer retention and deepening tenant sales-positively impacting recurring earnings and operational efficiency.
  
• Ongoing geographic and business line diversification-especially successful ramp-up of Lee Garden Shanghai and the flex-office joint venture in the Greater Bay Area-is broadening Hysan's revenue base and reducing reliance on Hong Kong retail, supporting more stable earnings in the medium to long term.
  
• Aggressive capital recycling of non-core assets, combined with a shift toward GREEN financing (42% of debt is green) and robust liquidity (HK$15+ billion undrawn facilities), positions Hysan for deleveraging, continued reinvestment, and lower financing costs-benefiting net margins and earnings resilience.

Hysan Development Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Hysan Development's revenue will grow by 3.4% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from -8.9% today to 67.0% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach HK$2.6 billion (and earnings per share of HK$1.66) by about September 2028, up from HK$-317.0 million today.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 9.3x on those 2028 earnings, up from -48.9x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the HK Real Estate industry at 13.0x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to remain consistent over the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 12.89%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Hysan Development Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Hysan's heavy concentration of assets in Causeway Bay and the Hong Kong retail sector exposes it to significant location-specific and sector-specific risks; should there be prolonged weakness in Hong Kong's retail or office market, local disruptions, or negative demographic trends, both revenues and net margins could be adversely affected.
  
• The company acknowledges ongoing headwinds in the Hong Kong retail environment, including cautious consumer sentiment, competition from alternative locations (including shopping north of the border in Mainland China), and the risk of further rental pressure or negative rental reversions, all of which put pressure on revenue growth and tenant retention.
  
• Office turnover declined by 2.4% YoY, and management admitted that despite some improvement in occupancy, rental reversions in the office portfolio remain in the mid-teens negative-indicating persistent structural oversupply and softening demand for office space, which can compress both revenue and net earnings over the long term.
  
• While Hysan is diversifying through asset-light investments and geographic expansion, progress remains moderate and the majority of earnings are still linked to its core Hong Kong properties; slow diversification reduces flexibility and makes the company more vulnerable to long-term trends like population stagnation or the shift to e-commerce and remote work, impacting long-term growth and stability of earnings.
  
• Rising interest rates and a challenging refinancing environment, as evidenced by the recent issuance of perpetual securities at a high 7.3% rate, increase debt servicing costs and can pressure net margins and earnings, especially as a significant portion of Hysan's capital expenditures and debt maturities come due in the next few years-making financial performance more sensitive to global monetary tightening.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of HK$16.593 for Hysan Development based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of HK$18.63, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just HK$14.0.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be HK$3.9 billion, earnings will come to HK$2.6 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 9.3x, assuming you use a discount rate of 12.9%.
• Given the current share price of HK$15.1, the analyst price target of HK$16.59 is 9.0% higher. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.