Analysts take Li Ka-shing's silence on results in their stride

Li Ka-shing's decision to end two decades of media briefings on the interim results of his flagship firms, Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong, sparked a frenzy of speculation among journalists.

It has, however, been dismissed as largely irrelevant by the professional analysts who scrutinise his businesses.

Hongkongers who used to look to Li, chairman of both companies, for advice on topics from property prices to politics will be disappointed that the billionaire known as Superman shunned the television cameras. They would hang on his every word at news conferences in the past.

"It's not a problem for me - unless they cancel the analysts' meeting as well," Standard Chartered analyst John Chan said. "I understand that people are accustomed to hearing his views on everything, but I'd rather the company's executives focused on their business."

The conglomerate's departure from usual practice was intended to shield Li from critical media questions about politics and controversial developments in the firms' businesses in recent months, said Cheung Chor-yung, a political scientist at City University.