S&P Assigns A+ Rating to Kowloon-Canton Railway.MELBOURNE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--S & P CreditWire 9/18/97--Standard & Poor's today assigned its single-'A'-plus long-term, foreign-currency corporate credit rating and its double-'A'-minus local-currency rating to Kowloon-Canton Railway "KCR" redirects here. For Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation which owns KCR, see Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation. For the company which will rent KCR in the future, see MTR Corporation. Corp. (KCRC KCRC Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation (Hong Kong) ). At the same time, the company was assigned 'A-1'-plus short-term ratings on both a local and foreign-currency basis. The rating outlook is stable. The ratings reflect KCRC's important role in Hong Kong's transportation policy, strong ownership and regulatory support from the Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. government, and a solid operating track record and financial profile. As a statutory corporation that is 100%-owned by the Hong Kong government, KCRC serves the important role of meeting transportation demand and facilitating suburban development in Hong Kong's New Territories. KCRC benefits from a favorable fa·vor·a·ble adj. 1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds. 2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis. 3. operating environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. , with limited direct competition from other major railway operators. In addition, KCRC has the autonomy to set its own fares, which allows it to earn a fair rate of return. Traffic volume and earnings associated with KCRC's core railway operations are growing steadily, while an additional earnings cushion comes from property development. Pretax pre·tax adj. Existing before tax deductions: pretax income. pretax adj [profit] → vor (Abzug der) Steuern interest coverage was well over 50 times (x) in the year ended December 1996, partly reflecting strong property development income during the year. The company's internally generated funds adequately cover its capital spending capital spending Spending for long-term assets such as factories, equipment, machinery, and buildings that permits the production of more goods and services in future years. needs and its capital structure is conservative, with almost no debt outstanding as of December 1996. As part of the government's transportation strategy, KCRC will engage in Phase I construction of the West Rail Project, a new link to Hong Kong's Northwest New Territories. While this significant expansion in KCRC's railway operations will require heavy capital spending in the mid to long term, the corresponding risks are mitigated by the government's strong ownership and regulatory support. OUTLOOK: Stable. KCRC is expected to maintain its stable operating and financial performance over the short to medium term, Standard & Poor's said. ---CreditWire. CONTACT: Daisuke Fukutomi, Tokyo (81) 3-3593-8714, Paul Coughlin, Hong Kong (852) 2533-3502, Agnes Lee, Hong Kong (media) (852) 2533-3512. For more information on criteria or subscriptions: http://www.ratings.standardpoor.com |
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