``They've got somewhere in the neighbourhood of US$650 million in gains to report and they could take some currency provisions against that,'' said an analyst Scott Benesch with Bear Stearns & Co.

The biggest gain will come from the sale of First Pacific's 40 per cent interest in Dutch trading company Hagemeyer NV for HK$13.6 billion. The Hagemeyer stake was once the company's largest and most profitable holding, producing income that will be difficult for the company to make up in Asia's depressed economies.

First Pacific also sold itsstake in the United Commercial Bank of California for US$120 million and also unloaded stakes in Indonesian paging company Indolink and Hong Kong mobile phone operator Pacific Link Communications Ltd.

The asset sales, part of a plan to focus on its units in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, yielded about US$2 billion for the company. After meeting all of its equity injection requirements, the company said earlier this year that it had nearly US$1 billion left for future investment, but it has not yet made any new investments.

``I'm kind of glad they haven't made any acquisitions,''Benesch said. ``With the current economic situation around the region, the longer they can hold out the better.'' Analysts also praised the company's retreat from its drawn-out battle to gain control of Phillippines food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp by selling its stake for three billion pesos, or about HK$540 million.

One analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity, estimated that First Pacific's operatingearnings, excluding exceptional items, would dip to US$41 million. The year-ago profit of US$110 million included exceptional charges of US$16.8 million.

Despite the expected lower results from the company's core units, which include banking, telecommunications, property and marketing and distribution, Steven Thompson of Nikko Research Centre (Hong Kong) Ltd said First Pacific shares are likely to be affected less by the results and more by economic conditions and the company's own acquisition decisions.

``It's not an earnings story right now. It's sit back and wait for the recovery, if there's going to be one, in the Phillippines,'' Thompson said. First Pacific shares closed on Friday at HK$2.70, down HK$0.075 or 2.7 per cent. It has a year low of HK$1.88, with a high of HK$4.55.

``I think it's a great bargain at this price' Bear Stearns'Benesch said, adding, however, that investors may have to wait a long time for economic conditions to improve for the stock to begin rising.