China's top liquor brand Kweichow Moutai's revenue up 24% in Q1

GUIYANG - China's leading liquor maker Kweichow Moutai reported Thursday that its revenue grew 23.9 percent year-on-year to 21.6 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in Q1 2019.

Net profit of the Guizhou-based company surged to 11.2 billion yuan in Q1, up 31.9 percent compared with the same period last year.

Shares of the liquor maker hit a new intraday high of 990 yuan Wednesday, pushing its market capitalization up to more than 1.2 trillion yuan. So far, Moutai's shares have increased by more than 60 percent from 598.98 yuan at the beginning of the year.

In 2018, Moutai saw its output reach around 70,200 tons, with sales revenues reaching 73.6 billion yuan and net profits 35.2 billion yuan, up 26.49 percent and 30 percent respectively, year-on-year.

The company plans to sell about 31,000 tons of product in 2019.

As a sorghum-based spirit, the Moutai liquor is considered a luxury item in China.