Hong Kong-listed Huiyuan Juice Group announced a 7.2-million-yuan net profit deficit (about US$1 million) in semi-annual performance report released yesterday, the first time the company has suffered a deficit since being listed.

Huiyuan, China's largest juice producer, has long made profits, with its highest annual profit hitting 640 million yuan (US$94 million) in 2007 before falling to its lowest amount a year later with 89 million yuan (about US$13 million).

According to Huiyuan's report, its sales volume increased 68.4 percent over the first six months of 2009, from 879.7 million yuan to 1,481 million yuan. Huiyuan still controls 56.4 percent of the domestic pure juice market. But its net profits plummeted 208.2 percent. Analysts say Huiyuan is still in the shadow cast by Coca-Cola's failure to acquisition the company, after the Ministry of Commerce rejected Coca-Cola’s US$2.4-billion bid in March of last year.

Huiyuan's first-half deficit is just another result of the company's lack of business development, which had been put on hold since it began talks for the acquisition, said Zhu Danpeng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Food Business. He said the company will likely continue to face such deficits, as the company struggles to renew abandoned relationships with distributors.

China's business press carried the story above on Tuesday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.