Infrastructure construction for the World Expo in Shanghai and the development of neighbouring Jiangsu province drove GEM-listed Shanghai Tonva Petrochemical's strong growth in first-quarter revenues, company executives say.
'We supplied 20,000 tonnes of asphalt to the Shanghai World Expo during the first quarter, out of a total of 45,000 tonnes of asphalt sold,' Tonva financial controller Alex Tsui Kan-chun said.
'A lot of the roads we supplied asphalt to were in Shanghai and were indirectly linked to the expo.'
Tonva's road and bridge construction revenue rose 66.7 per cent to 209.6 million yuan (HK$238.96 million) in the first quarter, accounting for 37.3 per cent of total revenue. The company last year won seven road and bridge construction projects worth 900 million yuan.
Tonva also has businesses in asphalt trading, fuel oil trading and logistics. Total revenue jumped 104 per cent to 562.24 million yuan in the first quarter, although net profit grew at a much slower pace of 13.4 per cent to 15.26 million yuan.
Revenue from asphalt, which is mostly used in road construction, soared 58.7 per cent to 177.5 million yuan in the first quarter, driven by demand from intensive infrastructure construction for the World Expo in Shanghai, Tsui said.