Sino United Publishing (Holdings) Ltd, one of Hong Kong's largest comprehensive publishing houses, reported a turnover of HK$3.9 billion in 2006.

The company's profit also recorded a "handsome growth", chairman Zhao Bing said in a statement yesterday. But he did not unveil the figure.

Sino United, which prints, publishes and distributes books and other publications, spared no efforts in expanding its network and the scope and number of publications in 2006, Zhao said.

The company produced 1,006 publications in the past year, an increase of 21 precent year-on-year.

It expanded its printing plant in Pinghu of Shenzhen last year and now has a 50,000-square-meter printing center there.

As for retail business, the company continued to enhance the service of its outlets in Hong Kong last year.

Its book stores in Hong Kong were rated as the "Best Book Store" in a contest held among HSBC credit card users in 2006.

On the business in the current year, Zhao said the publishing house will eye growth on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, apart from consolidating its leadership in Hong Kong.

The company plans to open a new book store in Guangzhou after it has established a subsidiary company in the city in 1995.

Sino United now has distributed nearly 4,000 own publications in Taiwan, up from 300 ten years ago, when it first made a foray into the market.

(China Daily March 5, 2007)