Despite a drop in sales, Wuxi Little Swan Co returned to the black in the first half of the year on higher margins after spinning off its loss-making refrigerator manufacturing business.

Little Swan's profit rose 0.98 percent to 67.39 million yuan (US$9.91 million) in the first six months, or 0.12 yuan a share, despite seeing its sales drop 21.53 percent to 1.9 billion yuan, the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday. Its net profit from the main washing machine business jumped 50 percent to 104 million yuan from a year ago.

"The sales drop was partly due to the sale of the refrigerator business. Meanwhile, the core washing machine sector has been consolidated and the high-end drum washing machines have grown particularly fast," Little Swan said in the statement.

The sale of the business led to an investment loss of 32 million yuan and influenced the net profit significantly.

(Shanghai Daily August 21, 2009)