Zhongwang's profits surge in first half

China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, the second-largest industrial aluminum extrusion product manufacturer in the world, realized a net profit of 1.04 billion yuan ($165 million) in the first half, representing a 152 percent growth year-on-year, the company said on Wednesday.

The company's revenue surged 60.9 percent to 6.88 billion yuan during the first six months.

It continued to expand its client base, composed of mainly large-scale State-owned enterprises, which led to a sales volume growth of 51.2 percent year-on-year to 6.33 billion yuan in the domestic market.

In the first half, the company sold 286,110 tons of aluminum extrusions, achieving more than 50 percent of its annual sales target of 500,000 tons.

Against a background of slower economic growth and gloomy development in the aluminum industry, Zhongwang performed well compared to others because of its strategy of focusing on high value-added products.

"The company continued to focus on the research and development of high value-added aluminum-processing products," said Lu Changqing, executive director and vice-president of the company. "China is still our primary market and the overseas market takes a supplementary role."

Deep-processed aluminum extrusion products are key to reopening the overseas market, which can also help the company upgrade its products mix and avoid anti-dumping and countervailing duty restrictions on China-produced aluminum extrusion products.

Zhongwang's export sales revenue increased by 524.3 percent to 551 million yuan in the first half.

Aluminum Corporation of China, the biggest alumina and aluminum producer by output in the country, reported a net loss for the six months ending June 30 totaling 3.25 billion yuan, representing a reversal from a net profit of 413 million a year earlier.

Analysts said falling aluminum prices, a slowing domestic economy and higher expenses were the main reasons for the losses.