Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., the sea property in Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's biggest company, may say profit surged last year on narrowing losses at its $25 billion investment in European mobile-phone networks.

Net income probably rose 35 percent to HK$19.3 billion ($2.5 billion) in 2006, according to the average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Hutchison and parent Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd. report earnings tomorrow.

Hutchison's 3 Group, operating third-generation services for mobile phones in the UK, Italy and four other markets, probably cut losses by reducing handset subsidies and other incentives. Li, 78, uses asset sales and earnings from ports, energy and real estate to support the unit, which lost $11 billion before interest and taxes since 2003.

``The 3G business drives the sentiment for the stock,'' said Lars Roemer at Nordea Asset Management in Copenhagen. ``Until there is a turnaround in the 3G business, it is hard to switch the focus of attention'' to other divisions, said Roemer, who manages $2.5 billion of Asian equities, including Hutchison stock.

Hutchison booked a HK$24.4 billion gain in April when it sold a fifth of its port unit, the world's biggest, to Singapore's PSA International Pte. Hutchison Port Holdings, the parent's biggest income contributor in 2005, operates 257 berths in 45 ports in 23 countries.

Husky Energy Inc., a Canadian oil and natural-gas company in which Hutchison owns 35 percent, posted a 36 percent rise in profit last year to C$2.7 billion ($2.3 billion) on higher output and prices.

Gas Discovery

The Calgary-based company owns oil and gas fields in western Canada, and has stakes in Chinese and Indonesian fields. Husky and Cnooc Ltd. announced in June a discovery off the south coast of China which may be the country's largest offshore deposit, according to China's land and resources ministry.

Another Hutchison mobile-phone unit, Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. yesterday posted its first annual profit since listing in 2004 on rising sales in India and Israel. Net income was HK$201 million, compared with a loss of HK$768 million the year earlier.

The unit last month agreed to sell a 67 percent stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd. to Vodafone Group Plc for $11.1 billion.

Hutchison's Australian phone unit said this week it will sell about $2.3 billion of convertible preferred shares, mainly to its parent, to cut debt after seven years of losses.

Targets Moved

In August, Li pushed back a target for ending losses at the European 3G unit last year. Li said he expected the unit to break even in 2007 before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and after deducting the costs of gaining customers.