China's Uni-President posts sharp profit rise on higher margins

Uni-President China Holdings

21/03/2016 01:43

HONG KONG, March 21 (Reuters) - Instant noodle and beverages 
maker Uni-President China Holdings Ltd  0220.HK  said its 2015 
net profit jumped sharply thanks to sales of high-margin 
products and a fall in prices of raw materials. 
    The company posted a net profit of 834.5 million yuan ($129 
million), up 192.3 percent from 285.5 million yuan profit in 
2014. That compared with an average forecast of 879.6 million 
yuan by 22 analysts polled by Reuters. 
    Operating profit soared 177.4 percent to 1.03 billion yuan 
while revenue was down 1.7 percent at 22.1 billion yuan. Gross 
margin increased by 4.3 percentage points to 36.8 percent. 
    Company Chairman Lo Chih-Hsien said the food and beverage 
market was undergoing a "transformation" toward more value-added 
products which would put pressure on firms that failed to 
innovate.  
    "Only corporations with innovations and proper brand 
management will have the opportunity to stand out from the 
homogeneous competition of low-priced products," Lo said in a 
statement. 
    Uni-President competes with Tingyi Holding Corp  0322.HK  
and Want Want China Holdings Ltd  0151.HK  in China. Tingyi last 
month warned of a 35-40 percent drop in 2015 net profit due to a 
decline in noodle sales.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nWNBS02312  
    Last week, Want Want posted a 12.6 percent drop in 2015 net 
profit amid the slowing economy.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nWNBS0271F  
    Uni-President's revenue from instant noodles slipped 4.9 
percent while the beverages business grew 0.3 percent. Instant 
noodles contributed 34 percent of total revenue and beverages 64 
percent. 
    ($1 = 6.4682 Chinese yuan renminbi) 
 
 (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Stephen Coates) 
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6470; Reuters 
Messaging: donny.kwok.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: UNIPRESIDENT RESULTS/