China liquor maker Wuliangye reports profit recovery

BEIJING - Wuliangye Yibin Co Ltd, a leading liquor producer in China, announced rebounding profitability in 2015 on Sunday thanks to rising sales following two years of sharp declines.

Net profits of Wuliangye increased 5.85 percent last year to nearly 6.18 billion yuan ($950 million), according to an annual financial report filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The company's net profits slumped 26.81 percent in 2014 and 19.75 percent in 2013 as a nationwide frugality campaign curbed the consumption of premium liquor.

Wuliangye attributed the profitability recovery mainly to an sales increase, "particularly for medium and low price liquor products," as the company improved its marketing strategy.

The whole liquor industry in China has shown signs of bottoming out, said the Wuliangye report.

The company's shares rose more than 2 percent on Friday and about 4.4 percent for the whole week.

Kweichow Moutai, one of Wuliangye's major rivals, reported earlier this week that its net profits grew 1 percent in 2015 to 15.5 billion yuan.