Yili sees loss in 2007 profit on stock-incentive plan

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group<600887>, China's largest dairy company by market value, suffered a loss of RMB 115 million (US$16.2 million) in 2007 due to cost brought by its stock-incentive plan, according to its filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

However, excluding spending on its stock-incentive plan the milk producer's 2007 profit soared 27.46% year-on-year to RMB 439 million. Sales jumped 17.56% to hit RMB 19.4 billion, mainly boosted by high-end products milk power and cold drinks, which were RMB 2.72 billion and RMB 2.73 billion, up 35.49% and 19.86% respectively over 2006.

The company, the dairy partner for the Beijing Olympic Games, has completed restructuring of its products structure in the first half of 2007, with high-valued and high-technology products accounting for 40% of its total operation. Yili posted a RMB147.5 million profit in 2006.