MTR Corporation: Best Public Service Financial Management Team Hong Kong 2021

MTR is a purpose-driven corporation striving to keep the world’s cities moving. That was no small feat during the Covid pandemic, when global health concerns and national lockdowns put the brakes on travellers. Despite these challenges, MTR Corporation has maintained the same shareholder dividend payments for 2020 and 2021 as it did in pre-pandemic 2019. It accomplished this thanks to the corporation’s diversified business model of rail and property assets combined with the proactive steps of its financial management team at the outset of the pandemic. MTR’s low-carbon railway is the backbone of Hong Kong’s public transport, supporting over four million daily journeys with world-class standards of safety and timeliness. The railway connects all 18 districts in Hong Kong and offers direct service to 58 destinations in mainland China. Based on the expertise accumulated in Hong Kong, MTR has established railway services in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau, Melbourne, Sydney, London and Stockholm. MTR’s property portfolio — 14 station-adjacent shopping malls, more than 1,500 station shops and over 100,000 managed residential units — allows the corporation to maintain high-quality railway services while achieving fiscal objectives in a responsible and sustainable manner. The focus going forward will be on enhancing ESG performance and spurring socio-economic community development by investing $12.8bn (HK$100bn) over the next ten years into new railway and property projects. The CFI.co judging panel salutes the forward-thinking perspective of MTR Corporation, the 2021 Best Public Service Financial Management Team (Hong Kong) award winner.