China Resources Cement (CRC) said yesterday that its net profit attributable to shareholders of the company increased 80.35 per cent YoY to HK$1.15bn (US$148.29m) in the first half of this year.

Basic earnings per share were at 17.6 HK cents, and an interim dividend of 3.5 HK cents was declared.

The firm's turnover rose 16.5 per cent YoY to HK$12.86bn in the first half. Gross profit jumped 29% YoY to HK$2.97bn in the period, and gross profit margin was about 23.1 per cent in the period, up 2.3 percentage points from the same period of last year, due to a decline in raw material cost. 

Average sales price of cement and clinker were HK$300.3 and HK$235.2/t in the period, down 10.1 per cent and 13 per cent YoY, respectively.

The company expects cement and clinker capacity to reach 76.5Mta and 51.8Mta, respectively by the end of this year.