HK Stock Market Move | WESTCHINACEMENT (02233) shares rose over 5% after earnings report, with net profit in the first half nearly halved, while overseas business starts to contribute to profits.

WESTCHINACEMENT (02233) rose over 5% after the release of its earnings report. As of the time of writing, it was up 4.68%, trading at HKD 1.9, with a transaction volume of HKD 32.8152 million. In terms of news, WESTCHINACEMENT announced its interim results, reporting a revenue of RMB 4.527 billion for the first half of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 16.5%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was RMB 379 million, a decline of 49.4% compared to the previous year. During this period, the total sales volume of cement and clinker was 10.54 million tons, down 2.6% year-on-year. Among these, sales in the Chinese market fell by 22.6% to 5.15 million tons, while sales in overseas markets increased by 29.3% to 5.39 million tons. The company stated that the decline in national cement demand led to poor performance in its core business in China, resulting in a simultaneous drop in both average selling price and gross profit. At the same time, investments in international markets have begun to yield returns, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia, where operations continue to contribute significant profits to the company. The company expects to continue seeking growth opportunities in emerging markets in the future.