Tsingtao Brewery interim profits up

The largest beer maker, Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd<600600><168>, announced the net profits increased 69.15% to RMB 366.81 million in the first half of this year, owing to the rising beer sales in Mainland China.

The company said the beer production rose 12.4% to 2.559 million kiloliters in the first half, and the sales of Tsingtao-branded products went up 17.9% to 909,000 kiloliters, according to the interim financial results.

Company's operating revenue increased from RMB 5.822 billion to RMB 6.843 billion. And earnings per share (EPS) rose to RMB 0.28, compared with last year's RMB 0.166.

Based on Hong Kong accounting standards, Tsingtao Brewery gained net profits of RMB 347.57 million in the first half of 2007, compared with RMB 212.74 million in 2006. And the total value of assets rose 14.69% to RMB 10.965 billion at the end of June.

The company, which is 27%-owned by Anheuser-Busch, said innovation of products is their future concern due to the increasing production costs.

The Tsingtao Brewery was founded in 1903 by German settlers in Qingdao, and introduced to the United States in 1972. After that, Tsingtao soon became the top-selling Chinese beer in the U.S. market and has maintained this leadership position ever since. Now Tsingtao is the No.1 branded consumer product exported from China.