HK'S CLP says 2007 net profit rises 7.2 pct

HONG KONG, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's largest power utility, CLP Holdings Ltd (0002.HK), posted a 7.2 percent rise in 2007 earnings on Thursday, helped by a one-off gain from the sale of part of a Taiwan firm.

It said in a statement it earned HK$10.61 billion ($1.36 billion) in 2007, compared with HK$9.9 billion in a year earlier.

The result lagged expectations for a net profit of HK$10.9 billion, according to the mean forecast of 10 analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.

CLP, which is expanding across the Asia Pacific to diversify away from the mature Hong Kong market, is expected to keep hunting for overseas opportunities to drive growth.

Shares in CLP, a member of the Hang Seng Index .HSI, fell 7 percent last year, lagging a 39 percent jump in the benchmark index .HSI. ($1=HK$7.8) (Reporting by Judy Hua; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)