Tingyi profit growth slows

Hong Kong - Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp, China's biggest maker of packaged food, posted its slowest first-quarter profit growth in three years as raw material costs rose and competition intensified.

Net income in the three months ended in March rose to $102.2 million, or 1.82 cents a share, from $93 million, or 1.66 cents, a year earlier, the Tianjin-based company said in a statement to Hong Kong's stock exchange on Monday. Sales increased 23.3 percent to $1.45 billion.

Tingyi is spending about $500 million this year upgrading factories with better technology to lower costs and increase output to meet competition in China, where companies including Coca-Cola Co are expanding.