China Merchants Property Development Co, one of the country's four major publicly listed developers, said Tuesday that its net profit more than doubled in the first half of this year.

Net income during the six-month period jumped 116 percent to 1.05 billion yuan (US$155 million), or 0.61 yuan per share, while revenue soared 143 percent to 6.98 billion yuan, the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

A significant increase in property sales during the first half of 2010 compared to same period a year earlier attributed to the substantial growth in net profit, according to the developer's half-year report.

Between January and June, China Merchants Property launched a total of 21 projects in 11 cities with combined sales by area reaching 287,500 square meters and contract sales by value totaling 4.23 billion yuan.

"The company's first-half sales (by value) only accounted for 35 percent of our earlier forecast for 2010, compared to the average 54 percent level reached by its major counterparts," Sun Xianbing, a researcher with Beijing Gao Hua Securities Co Ltd, said.

"Therefore, how to improve its second-half sales would be of great importance to the company's whole-year performance."

During the first six months, the company commenced construction on nine new projects with a combined gross floor area space of 670,000 square meters. The developer's land bank, meanwhile, has exceeded 10 million square meters after some 460,000 square meters' plots were added during the first half.