Daqin Railway Co said Monday its unaudited net profit was expected to rise about 50 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter as the country's economic recovery pushed up demand for coal transportation.

The company's net profit was 1.46 billion yuan ($213.9 million) in the first quarter of 2009, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The first-quarter net profit was forecast to be 10 percent higher than that in the last quarter of last year, according to the statement.

The Shanxi province-based company, which provides railway transportation services of coal products, attributed the rapid growth to a low base in the same period of last year due to the economic slowdown and rising demand for coal transportation in the first quarter on China's economic recovery.

The cold weather in the southern part of the country earlier this year also helped lift demand for coal transportation, said the statement.

The company's net profit last year stood at 6.53 billion yuan ($956.5 million), down 2.23 percent year-on-year.

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