• meeting expenses incurred in the provision of services to the public and Government departments out of the income of the trading fund, taking one year with another; and
  
  
• achieving a reasonable return, as determined by the Financial Secretary, on the ANFA employed.

Actual Performance

In the year ended 31 March 2009, the Land Registry Trading Fund achieved a net profit after taxation of $93.5 million and attained a return on ANFA of 18.8%. When compared with 2007/08, overall revenue decreased by $86.2 million (down 16.8%). Operating expenses increased by $6 million (up 1.8%) mainly due to increase in staff cost, general operating expenses and computer service charges.


Forecast

The Land Registry had been hard-hit by the economic downturn since September 2008. With the loss of revenue and additional commitments in the development of the New Search System and preparation for title registration, we anticipated that sizeable deficits may be incurred despite our continuous effort to enhance operating efficiency. Given the requirement to achieve the target rate of return under the Trading Funds Ordinance, we cannot rule out the possibility of fee increases in the coming years.