High-speed rail firm sees growth in revenue, profit

Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway Co Ltd, the operator of the high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai, released its first annual report on April 15 after listing, showing growth both in revenue and profit.

The operator gained revenue of 32.94 billion yuan ($4.65 billion) in 2019, an increase of 5.72 percent over the previous year, and its net profit attributable to shareholders registered a year-on-year increase of 16.48 percent to 11.94 billion yuan. Total operating costs reached 17.13 billion yuan, down 2.47 percent from the previous year.

The whole Beijing-Shanghai high speed railway line handled 215 million passengers last year, an increase of 10.1 percent year-on-year, accounting for 6 percent of the total number of passengers carried by the country's railway.

Trains operated by Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway Co Ltd handled 53.33 million passengers in 2019, down 1.21 percent from the previous year's 53.98 million, according to its annual report.

Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co Ltd went public on Jan 16 this year on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company, founded in 2007, had reported sustained profitability for five consecutive years since 2014, according to national railway operator China State Railway Group Co Ltd, the parent of Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway's controlling shareholder China Railway Investment Co Ltd, as per a previous China Daily report.