China National Building Material (CNBM), a cement, lightweight building materials, fiberglass and steel products producer, said its first-half earnings more than doubled on higher production and prices.

CNBM earned 545.6 million yuan in the first six months of this year, a 112.8 percent leap from the same period last year. However, the company hasn't declared any interim dividend.

The sales from cement business, which accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total, rose 3.8 times to 6.7 billion yuan, pre-tax profits amounted to 888 million yuan from 208 million yuan a year earlier.

Both the production and sales of cement of China United, a CNBM unit, doubled to 10.8 million tons, the average selling price also climbed to 210.3 yuan a ton compared with 189 yuan a year earlier. And the sales and production of cement by another production unit, South Cement, reached 10.4 million tons. The unit's existing production capacity stands at about 69 million tons.

Despite the strong first-half growth, the firm is concerned about the rising fuel costs. "Facing pressure from rising fuel and raw material prices, China United expanded the scope of centralized procurements of fuel and raw materials to lower procurement cost," chairman Song Zhiping said in a statement on the stock exchange.

Sales attributed to the lightweight building materials segment edged up 16.1 percent to 1.02 billion yuan. However, the pre-tax profits slid 15.6 percent to 84.8 million yuan.

Boosted by the increase in production, its fiberglass and fiber-reinforced plastic products segment saw its sales more than triple to 134 million yuan.

CNBM's alkali-free fiberglass direct-melt furnace, with a capacity of 140,000 tons per annum in Tongxiang, Zhejiang province, and another one capable of producing 40,000 tons in Chengdu, Sichuan province, both went into production.

Shares in CNBM ended 1.9 percent lower at HK$12.40 ahead of its result announcement.

(HK Edition 08/27/2008 page2)