Wing On Company International Limited provided earnings guidance for the six months ended 30 June 2017. For the period, the Group expects to record an increase of approximately 180% in the amount of profit attributable to shareholders for the six months ended 30 June 2017 as compared to that for the corresponding period in 2016. Such substantial increase is mainly attributable to the increase in the net valuation gain on the Group's investment properties for the six months ended 30 June 2017 as compared to that for the corresponding period in 2016. It is also expected that the Group's underlying profit attributable to shareholders, which excludes net valuation gain on the Group's investment properties and related deferred tax thereon, for the first half of 2017 will be better than that for the corresponding period in 2016 by approximately 50%. The Directors believe that the expected net increase in the Group's underlying profit attributable to shareholders for the period is primarily due to the following: (1) Investment in trading securities and derivative financial instruments The gain from investment in trading securities and derivative financial instruments is expected to be approximately HKD 60.0 million as compared to HKD 4.3 million for the six months ended 30 June 2016. (2) Share of profit of an associate The Group is expected to record a share of profit from the associate of approximately HKD 6.2 million as compared to a loss of HKD 50.2 million for the six months ended 30 June 2016. (3) Department Store operations The operating profit from the Group's department store operations is expected to be approximately HKD 60.0 million as compared to HKD 82.0 million for the six months ended 30 June 2016, affected by the decline in business revenue due to the weak consumer spending.