Mengniu shares leap 12% as interim sales rise

China Mengniu Dairy Co posted first-half revenue up 6.6 percent to 27.26 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) on the previous year, beating market expectations and taking its share price up more than 10 percent on Thursday, but the company also reported that profit declined in the six months to June.

Benefiting from active brand promotion and marketing, the company reported in its interim results, released on Wednesday, that its gross profit margin increased by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year to 33.7 percent.

Mengniu's share price closed up about 12 percent on Thursday - the share's biggest daily gain since April 2009 - to HK$14.58 ($1.88) after its first-half sales beat analyst estimates.