HONG KONG – (ACN Newswire) – According to South China Morning Post’s report, the interim results posted by Legend Holdings Corporation for the six months to the end of June show continuing strong performance for its main business sectors and subsidiaries. Steady revenue growth was achieved in financial services and IT, as well as innovative consumptions and related services.
There were also solid gains in advanced manufacturing, professional services and, especially large growth in agriculture and food.
This confirms the success of plans and policies implemented in the three years since listing and points to further opportunities for expansion and strategic investment.
In the first half, the company realised revenue of RMB 156.5 billion yuan (HK$ 180 billion), a 10 per cent increase compared with the equivalent period last year. Net profit attributable to shareholders came to RMB2.83 billion, up 5 per cent year on year, putting basic earnings per share at RMB1.21 yuan.
With China’s economy continuing to show consistent growth, spurred by increasing domestic consumption, the company remains confident about overall prospects in the near to medium term.
In other respects, Legend Holdings became the first pilot enterprise for the H-share Full Circulation Project and relevant domestic shares have been converted to H shares and listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange during the reporting period. The move is seen as contributing to China’s overall capital market reforms and, more specifically, should help the company’s own business development.
In IT services, the reporting period saw the planned transformation of Lenovo Group taking effect. The PC and smart equipment business recorded strong growth, losses were trimmed in the mobile division, and the data centre business once again showed a positive upward trend.
This resulted in a 7 per cent increase in realised revenue to just over RMB143.9 billion yuan and net attributable profit of RMB231 million yuan, a significant improvement. These figures show that efforts to give Lenovo Group a more efficient organisational structure, a more attractive portfolio of products and a more customer-oriented outlook are clearly paying off.
In the area of financial services, significant events during the last few months included the acquisition of over 89.9 per cent of the shares of Banque Internationale a Luxembourg S.A. The transaction, which was officially completed on July 2, is in line with the stated objective of building up the pillar asset to bring reliable returns for shareholders. It also marked the first time a Chinese non-financial enterprise has acquired a systematically important bank supervised by the European Central Bank. This can be taken as recognition of the strength of Legend Holdings by the relevant regulators and a sign of enhanced cooperation between China and Luxembourg.
Subsidiary Zhengqi Financial showed the benefits of intensified efforts to understand evolving client needs and optimise asset allocation.
First-half income of RMB637 million yuan was up 8 per cent year on year, which translated into a 25 per cent increase in net profit to RMB396 million yuan. This performance is underpinned by a long-term strategy of investment-loan linkage which, over the past four years, has proved a source of consistent profit growth.
In parallel, another subsidiary, Koala Technology, consolidated its leading position in the financial technology sector, continuing to provide services for SMEs, businesses linked to personal consumption, and community finance initiatives. At the end of June, its credit balance stood at nearly RMB6.4 billion yuan and its net profit for the period of RMB249 million yuan represented a 75 per cent jump compared with the prior year.
There were a couple of key developments in the innovative consumption and services business.
Firstly, the company entered into an agreement with Taikang Life Insurance Co. to provide funding support for Bybo Dental. This will also lead to further cooperation on insurance products for oral health, marketing, and insurance payment procedures.
Secondly, Better Education continued to expand. It now runs 110 kindergartens, up from 91 at the same time last year, employing over 4,800 staff and with an enrolment of more than 32,000 pupils.
Separately, the company’s diverse agriculture and food businesses kept performing well. Through Joyvio Group and other subsidiaries, interests range from fruit, seafood and dried bean curd products.
Notably, KB Food is now a leading supplier of seafood for the Woolworths supermarket chain in Australia and has signed a five-year contract with Compass Group, which provides restaurant services in 50 countries. KB is looking to invest in marine fishing boats.
The company has also expanded its role in the financial investments sector through Legend Star, Legend Capital and Hony Capital. Legend Star manages five funds with a total value in excess of 2 billion yuan. These include investments in projects such as intelligent machines, biotechnology and medical equipment.
“The company will continue to focus on the changing external environment, exploring development opportunities in our fields of strategic focus,” says Zhu Lina, president of Legend Holdings. “By promoting healthy development and value improvement in our enterprises, we are creating long-term returns for shareholders.”
Liu Chuanzhi, Chairman of Legend Holdings added the group, “Legend Holdings will not miss opportunities arising from the rapid growth of China’s economy that pays more attention of the quality instead of speed, and support the development of the real economy by direct investments.”