Guangzhou Investment profit slumps

Guangzhou Investment, the SAR-listed flagship of the Guangzhou municipal government, has reported a 76.59 per cent fall in attributable profit to $35.56 million for the first half to June 30.

The red chip saw its operating margin squeezed from 21.27 per cent to 13.46 per cent.

Turnover was flat at $1.32 billion, compared with $1.33 billion in the year-ago period.

Operating profit was $178.96 million, down from $284.07 million.

Earnings per share were 0.98 cents, against 4.72 cents previously.

No interim dividend would be paid, compared with one cent a share earlier.

The company said its cement and toll-road operations performed satisfactorily but the result was affected by lack of property sales in Hong Kong.