China Everbright International profit up 43% to HK$352mn

The company achieves continuous revenue and profit growth as it entered into overseas market.

China Everbright International Limited (“Everbright International”), on Wednesday announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2011.

In the first half of 2011, a number of construction projects were in full swing, driving revenue from construction services up. In addition, with the sustained increase in scale of operating projects and improvement of operating efficiency, revenue from operation services also recorded a steady growth. During the period under review, the Group’s consolidated turnover amounted to HK$1,834,302,000, an increase of 91% from HK$959,876,000 in the same period last year. During the period, the EBITDA on recurring basis amounted to HK$661,806,000, an increase of 46% from HK$453,628,000 in the first half of last year. Profit attributable to equity shareholders during the period was HK$351,668,000, a growth of 43% as compared to the same period last year. Basic earnings per share for the first half of 2011 were HK9.61 cents, HK2.88 cents more than HK6.73 cents in the same period last year.

During the period under review, to keep up with rapid development trend of the environmental protection and alternative energy industries, the Group has expanded businesses in both domestic and overseas markets. It has secured 9 new projects commanding a total investment of approximately RMB1.447 billion. Currently, the Group has secured 58 environmental protection and alternative energy projects commanding a total investment of approximately RMB12 billion. Of these projects, those with construction already completed had a total investment amounting to approximately RMB5.772 billion, whereas those under construction accounted for a total investment of about RMB2.619 billion. The estimated total investment of projects still at the preparatory stage was approximately RMB3.634 billion. Those projects under construction or preparation will lay a solid foundation of the future sustainable rapid growth of the Group.

During the period under review, the turnover from the environmental protection and alternative energy businesses reached HK$1,748,642,000 (construction service revenue: 65%, operation service revenue: 21%, finance income and finance lease income: 14%), an increase of 96% as compared to the same period in 2010 and accounting for 95% of the Group’s total turnover, 2 percentage points higher than that in 2010. The EBITDA amounted to HK$608,668,000, a rise of 50% when compared to the last corresponding period and accounting for 92% of the Group’s total EBITDA.

During the period under review, the Group has processed household and industrial solid waste of 992,000 tonnes and generated green electricity of 307,984,000 kWh, which can fulfill the electricity consumption of approximately 257,000 households per year and is equivalent to coal savings of 123,000 tonnes and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 308,000 tonnes (including the Suzhou Landfill Methane-to-Energy Project). Meanwhile, the Group has processed 230,262,000 m3 of waste water and leachate from waste-to-energy plants and reduced COD emission by 86,115 tonnes, according to a China Everbright International report.

Mr. Chen Xiaoping, Chief Executive Officer of Everbright International, concluded, “The Government has designated the environmental protection and energy saving industry as the pillar of the seven emerging industries, and is offering strong support for its development. Everbright International has captured the golden opportunities created from this favourable national policy by focusing on the development of environmental protection and alternative energy operations. Capitalizing on our strong R&D capability, we continue to develop the market of environmental protection equipment manufacturing. By extending our reach to midstream and upstream operations step by step, we are also expanding into alternative energy markets within China and overseas, including photovoltaic energy, biomass power generation and wind power projects. Through this expansion we are consolidating our presence in the environmental protection business and contributing to the green industry in the PRC while bringing better returns for our shareholders”.