China Mengniu Dairy reports 13.55% rise in net profit for H1

Sep. 8, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Mengniu Dairy Co<2319>, the nation's biggest dairy products maker, announced today that its net profit increased 13.55% year on year to RMB 662 million in the first half of this year due to a gradual recovery in the firm's overall turnover, which was greatly affected by the milk scandal last year.

Earnings per share were RMB 0.42, according to the company's interim report.

The firm's revenue in the first six months was RMB 12.1 billion, up 19% from the same period of last year.

Operating profit from sales of liquid milk declined 13.3% year on year to RMB 10.32 billion, while that from sales of ice cream fell 7.6% from the corresponding period of last year to RMB 1.67 billion.

In early July, two strategic investors, COFCO and Hopu, spent HK$6.1 billion buying a stake of about 20% in the milk maker at an average price of HK$17.6 per share, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.