Taipei, Sept. 3, 2009 (CENS)--Master Kong, owned by Taiwan`s Ting Hsin International Group and the largest brand of instant noodles in China, earned net profits of US$249 million in the first half of this year, sharply growing 30.43% yearly, according to the brand`s newest revenue report.

In the meantime, Master Kong scored sales revenue of US$2.501 billion, up 22.08% from a year earlier, and a 36.21% gross profit rate, also increasing by 3.27 percentage points and hitting a record high, for the first half of the year, with beverage contributing US$1.299 billion, or 51.93%, to the total revenue as the biggest revenue booster among the brand`s 3 major product lines, namely beverage, instant noodles and bakeries.

The shining half-year sales and profit performances are attributable partly to its production equipment upgrades that helps to enhance production efficiency and partly to its efforts to heavily promote middle-to-high-end food products in both urban and rural areas in China.

Raising its budget to heavily market its bottled water through TV commercials and price promotions, Master Kong has effectively regained lead in the Chinese market for bottled water with a share of 23.2% in the first half of the year, according to a market survey by AC Nielsen.

In addition, AC Nielsen`s survey also showed that Master Kong has reigned in the market for instant noodles for a decade in the country, and further pushed up its market share to over 70% this June, remaining unshakable in the market. The brand`s sales revenue of instant noodles grew by 9% yearly to US$1.074 billion in the first half of the year, with the business`s gross profit rate also surging 5.45 percentage points to 31.49%.

(by Steve Chuang)