MTR Corp, the world's largest subway operator by market value, said first-half profit, excluding property revaluations, fell 48 percent, as lower real estate sales countered a rise in Hong Kong passenger numbers.

Underlying profit dropped to HK$2.05 billion (US$262 million), from HK$3.95 billion, the Hong Kong-based company said in a statement yesterday. That was more than the median forecast of HK$1.85 billion in a Bloomberg News survey of three analysts. Sales rose 6.3 percent to HK$4.85 billion.

MTR carried 2.7 percent more passengers on its seven Hong Kong train lines in the period as the city's economic growth and rising visitor numbers fueled demand. Property sales fell after the company booked the profits from two of its largest real-estate developments a year earlier.

"Property is a swing factor," Manfred Ho, an analyst at BNP Paribas SA, said before the earnings announcement. "The second half will be better as it will book profit from a property project" in Hong Kong's Tiu Keng Leng district.