Briefly

CNPC reports strong profit growth in Q1

China National Petroleum Corp, the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, reported a 41 percent surge in net profit in the first quarter. Net profit attributable to the parent company exceeded 39 billion yuan ($5.89 billion) from January to March, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company's business revenue rose 41 percent to about 779.4 billion yuan in the reporting period, it said. The company attributed its net profit growth to the rise in the prices of oil and gas products, as well as the increase in sales volumes.

Lottery sales up 10.5% in March

China's lottery ticket sales reached 32.94 billion yuan ($4.98 billion) in March, up 10.5 percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed. Sales of lottery tickets to support the welfare system totaled 13.31 billion yuan in March, up 22 percent year-on-year. Lottery ticket sales to support the sports industry stood at 19.63 billion yuan, up 4 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry. In the first three months, lottery sales neared 86.25 billion yuan, up 2 percent year-on-year.

E-info manufacturing sector expands

China's electronic information manufacturing sector maintained stable growth in the first quarter of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed. The added value of electronic information manufacturers with annual operating revenues of at least 20 million yuan ($3 million) expanded 13 percent year-on-year during the period. The growth rate was 0.3 percentage point higher than the average growth rate for the same period in the past two years.

Nonferrous metal firms' H1 gains to swell

Companies in China's nonferrous metal industry are likely to see their combined profit climb 20 percent year-on-year to 200 billion yuan ($30 billion) in the first six months of this year, according to industry estimates. The sector is expected to continue the robust growth momentum of the first quarter when the total profit of firms above a designated size surged 56 percent to 101.26 billion yuan, said Jia Mingxing, vice-chairman of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.

Xinhua