China Everbright Water posted earnings of HK$404.5 million ($71.6 million) for 1H20 ended June, 4% lower than the earnings of HK$420.5 million a year ago.
This translates to earnings per share (EPS) of 14.14 HK cents for the period, compared to the 15.51 HK cents a year ago.
Revenue for 1H20 decreased 15% y-o-y to HK$2.12 billion due to a significant decline from the group’s construction service revenue, which fell to HK$817.8 million from HK$1.32 billion last year.
Gross profit for the half-year period fell 4% y-o-y to HK$881.6 million, although overall gross profit margin rose 5 percentage points to 42%. The increase in gross profit margin was mainly due to a lower portion of the sum of construction service revenue, construction contract revenue and technical service income recognised in the mix of the total revenue of 1H20 compared to the year before.
Other income and gains saw a 9% decrease y-o-y to HK$39.40 million in 1H20, mainly due to the drop in government grants and fair value loss on contingent consideration receivable.
The board has declared an interim dividend of 3.74 HK cents (0.67 Singapore cents) for 1H20, the same as last year.
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As at end June, cash and cash equivalents in China Everbright stood at HK$1.85 billion.
In 1H2020, China Everbright Water expanded water treatment business steadily, securing 6 waste water treatment projects and undertook 1 operation and management project, which helped solidify its market position in several regions including the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
On July 27, the company entered into a concession agreement with the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Dandong City in Liaoning Province where it will invest, construct, and operate based on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model for a concession period of 30 years.
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The plant will have an aggregate designed daily waste water treatment capacity of some 200,000 cubic metres.
On Aug 4, the company completed the issuance of RMB-denominated medium term notes in mainland China with a principal amount of RMB 1 billion, an interest rate of 3.6% per annum, a maturity period of 3 years, and a subscription rate of 2.01 times.
As at 3.07pm, shares in China Everbright were trading flat at 23.5 cents.
