By Anthony O. Goriainoff 



  Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd. said Thursday that it swung to a net loss for the first half of 2020, and that trading conditions for the second half are expected to remain challenging due to the coronavirus pandemic. 


  The Asia-based group--which has a broad portfolio of market-leading businesses--said that for the six months ended June 30 net loss was $775 million compared with a net profit of $2.25 billion for the first half of 2019. 


  Pretax loss for the period was $1.09 billion compared with a pretax profit of $1.49 billion. 


  Underlying profit--one of the company's preferred metrics which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--fell 49% to $373 million. 


  Gross revenue for the period--including 100% of associates and joint ventures--was $44.94 billion compared with $50.27 billion the year before. 


  The company's net asset value at June 30 was $78.02 a share compared with $81.90 a share in the year-prior. 


  The board declared an interim dividend of 44 cents, flat on 2019. 


  "While there were some signs of recovery in certain of the group's businesses in the second quarter, the possibility of further waves of the pandemic make it difficult to predict performance in the second half," the company said. 


  Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com