Citic, mainland China’s largest state-backed conglomerate, posted a 46 per cent rise in net profit for the year’s first six months to HK$37.68 billion on the back of a HK$12.2 billion gain from the sale of a 3 per cent stake in Citic Securities and an accounting gain from the latter's new shares sale.
Excluding the gain, net profit would be around HK$25.5 billion for the period, compared to HK$25.9 billion in the year-earlier period, and amounted to 48.7 per cent of the 52.4 billion yuan full-year average profit estimate by six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue amounted to HK$201.46 billion, flat compared to HK$200.62 billion in the year-earlier period, Citic said Monday just after noon time in a filing to Hong Kong's bourse.
First-half net profit from financial services – mainly banking and brokerage, its biggest profit contributor, surged 58.7 per cent year-on-year to HK$33.32 billion, while that of real estate fell 16.2 per cent to HK$2.22 billion.