Red chip improves showing

Three of the Guangdong Government's Hong Kong-listed arms - Guangdong Investment (GDI), Guangdong Brewery Holdings and Guangdong Tannery - have reported improvements in earnings for last year.

The Government's investment flagship, GDI, returned to the black with a net profit of HK$285.54 million last year, against a HK$1.35 billion net loss in 2000.

GDI's sales for last year increased by 46.95 per cent to HK$7.27 billion, up from HK4.94 billion the previous year. However, no dividend was recommended.

Guangdong Brewery, most famous for its Kingway beer, saw net profit more than triple to HK$34.43 million last year. However, turnover dipped 11.39 per cent to HK$543.92 million.

In 2000, Guangdong Brewery earned HK$10.24 million net profit on HK$613.89 million turnover.

The main driver for the brewer's profitability came from cost savings imposed last year.

Guangdong Brewery saved HK$53.48 million in costs of inventories sold, or a 13.84 per cent saving in costs over the period to HK$332.69 million. The company also saw a substantial reduction in financial costs during the year, down from HK$30.48 million in 2000 to HK$7.85 million.

Meanwhile, Guangdong Tannery saw its net loss narrow by 14.5 per cent last year to HK$72.28 million.