Xinglu Water Announces 2017 Annual Results

Wednesday, 28 March 2018, 23:54 HKT/SGT

Net Profit Amounts to RMB131.3 Million; Distributes Final Dividends of RMB0.08 Per Share (tax inclusive)

HONG KONG, Mar 28, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - Luzhou Xinglu Water (Group) Co., Ltd. ("Xinglu Water" or the "Company", stock code: 2281) announced the audited consolidated annual results for the year ended 31 December 2017 (the "Reporting Period"). During the Reporting Period, profit attributable to owners of the Company amounted to approximately RMB131.3 million and basic earnings per share amounted to approximately RMB0.16. The Board proposed the payment of final dividends of RMB0.08 per share (tax inclusive).

For the Reporting Period, revenue of the Company increased by 29.4% to RMB1,081.7 million. The performance of tap water supply witnessed solid growth with revenue from this sector increasing by 65.2% to RMB875.3 million. Revenue from wastewater treatment was RMB206.4 million. The overall gross profit of the Company was up 18.1% to RMB253.5 million while gross profit margin was 23.4%.

Tap water supply continued to experience strong performance
As at the end of the Reporting Period, the Company owned eight tap water plants with a daily supply capacity of approximately 425,500 tons in aggregate, representing an addition of two plants and approximately 145,000 tons of daily supply capacity in aggregate from the same period of 2016. The average utilisation of tap water plants during the Reporting Period stood at 84.2%. Benefiting from population and economic growth of Luzhou, total sales of water increased by 15.3% from approximately 82.4 million tons for 2016 to approximately 95.0 million tons for 2017. Total number of end users of tap water increased from 262,730 for the year ended in 2016 to 335,703 as of the end of the Reporting Period. Qiancao Supply Plant II with designed capacity of 95,000 tons per day has been in trial operation in December 2017.

As at the end of the Reporting Period, the Company owned nine operating wastewater treatment plants with a daily treatment capacity of approximately 261,000 tons in aggregate. The average load rate of wastewater treatment plants stood at 63.3% during the Reporting Period. Daily wastewater treatment capacity increased by 23.8% from approximately 48.7 million tons for 2016 to approximately 60.3 million tons for 2017.

As the biggest water service provider in Luzhou Area, with development opportunities in water industry, in 2018, Xinglu Water will prioritise the ideology-driven transformation and development as the core task, and will follow the guideline of "work style reform, efficiency improvement, execution strengthening and quality assurance". It will align its development and future plans with external environment changes and industry characteristics, and optimise the Company's strategies, water supply and drainage segments, business structure and financing channels. While actively participating in the construction and development of water resources industry, the Company will adopt the approach that "leverage the key segment to build a well-structured network", and gradually develop other regional markets of water supply and drainage, thus realising cross-region development and diversified business operation.

Mr. Zhang Qi, Chairman of the Board of Xinglu Water, said: "Xinglu Water was successfully listed on the main board of The Stock Exchange Of Hong Kong Limited in March 2017, which was the milestone for the development of the Company. Looking forward, we will seize the tremendous opportunities in the market, and gradually build a business pattern comprising 'one staple, two supplements and three sidelines'. Focusing on the water supply and drainage, the Company will seek vertical and horizontal development in the industry chain and improve its market expansion capabilities in water supply and drainage design, construction and operation of piping network, measurement technology, sludge treatment and technology consultation on water supply and drainage. While vigorously promoting the construction of smart enterprise, it will grow the supplements and sidelines into stronger segments.

We will also innovate on our management style, control cost by leveraging technology innovation and explore new core technologies of the water industry relentlessly. We will collaborate with research teams of universities to initiate projects about water environment treatment, sludge treatment and garbage disposal. By doing so, the Company will cultivate its core competitiveness, which will be conducive to the sustainable development and help the Company to grow into nationally leading and integrated water service provider with reasonable structure, efficient management and standardised operation.

Leveraging on our previous successful experience and the leading position in the market in Luzhou Area, we believe that following the successful listing, the development of the Company will step up to next level and bring the best return to its shareholders."

Topic: Press release summary Sectors: Daily Finance, Daily News
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