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Tsingtao Brewery H1 profit up 32%

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-20 15:20

Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd said first-half net profit rose 32.39 percent year-on-year to 381.13 million yuan ($55.56 million) due to higher selling prices.

It added that growth got a boost from a lower year-earlier profit after a restatement to account for higher taxes.

In its interim report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company said it sold 2.69 million kiloliters of beer in the first six months, up only 5 percent from a year earlier, roughly in line with the industry total for China, which rose 5.6 percent year-on-year to 19.65 million kiloliters.

The national total slowed from the growth rate of 16.2 percent from the previous year.

However, the company moderated the impact of slower growth by adjustments to prices and the product mix.

Sales volume of its top four brands - Tsingtao, Shanshui, Laoshan and Hans - stood at 2.48 million kiloliters, up 30 percent year-on-year and accounting for 92.4 percent of sales volume, while sales small bottled and canned high-quality beer rose 30.2 percent and 19.3 percent respectively.

In the first half, Tsingtao Brewery booked operating revenue of 7.9 billion yuan, up 15.67 percent year-on-year.

Revenue per kiloliter of beer also increased by 10 percent, with the gross profit margin up 0.7 percentage point, the company said.

However, operating costs rose 16 percent year-on-year to 4.59 billion yuan amid an expansion in the sales network and rising raw material prices.

Selling expenses stood at 1.61 billion yuan, up 20.5 percent year-on-year, mainly due to higher advertising expenses associated with Olympic marketing. Management expenses rose 46 percent to 359 million yuan.

The company said income tax payable fell 14.4 percent year-on-year to 191 million yuan with the new tax rate of 25 percent.

The company revised first half 2007 net profit as it moved to a new accounting standard. Year-earlier net profit is now 287.90 million yuan, down from 366.81 million as initially stated, to incorporate a tax rate of 33 percent, from the preferential rate of 15 percent previously.

Earnings per share stood at 0.291 yuan in the first half, against 0.22 a year earlier.

Under Hong Kong accounting standards, the company booked sales of 7.79 billion yuan, up from 6.74 billion a year earlier, while net profit stood at 381.13 million yuan, against 268.66 million a year earlier.

The company said it has adjusted operational targets for 2008, with a beer sales volume growth rate now set at 2 percentage points over the industry average. It did not say what the previous target was.

The company will deploy the proceeds from the issue of bonds with warrants to build up production capacity and further expand market share and sales volumes.

In March, the company issued 1.5 billion yuan worth of six-year bonds with warrants.