In the year ended 31 March 2005, the Land Registry Trading Fund achieved a net profit after taxation of $138.1 million and attained a return on ANFA of 32 per cent.

Compared with 2003/04, overall revenue increased by $73 million (up 20 per cent), mainly due to revival of the property market. Through effective cost controls and the effort of the department to increase efficiency, operating expenses only increased by $2.1 million (up 0.8 per cent) despite a substantial increase in depreciation and amortisation cost due to commencement of IRIS at the end of the financial year.

The Land Registry will continue to exercise strict control on costs. The implementation of IRIS on 12 February 2005 will contribute to this by helping us achieve further increases in efficiency and reducing recurrent costs. Rental, for example, will be reduced by about 20% after IRIS implementation as we have reduced the size of offices in NT districts and released office space in Sai Wan Ho. Revenue and the return on ANFA will depend mainly on transaction volumes in the property market. This depends on wider economic factors but we expect the property market will remain stable following the recovery in market activity in the second half of 2003/04.