Guyuelongshan FY sales decline 8.23%

Guyuelongshan, China's largest rice wine maker, yesterday said full year profit rose 4.45 percent from a year earlier to 122.77 million yuan, thanks to price increases and cost cutting efforts.

Sales for 2008 fell 8.23 percent to 747.81 million yuan as a result of the spin-off of the non-core spandex business, which registered a turnover of 179.38 million yuan in 2007. Rice wine sales slowed in the second half of 2008 as corporate customers began to cut down on entertainment and other expenditure due to the global financial crisis.

Guyuelongshan said it still managed to make a moderate profit due to price increases and initiatives taken to cut costs.