(Yicai Global) Sept. 1 -- Shares in Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group jumped today after China’s largest dairy firm posted a 40 percent surge in net profit in the first half from the same period last year, clocking its fastest growth rate since 2014, largely due to the low baseline in 2020 and an improved selection of products.

Yili’s share price [SHA:600887] finished up 6.38 percent at CNY36.18 (USD5.60) today, giving it a market capitalization of CNY220 billion (USD34 billion). The stock has increased by over 8 percent in the last two trading days.

Yili logged a 41.6 percent leap in net profit in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier to CNY5.3 billion (USD819.9 million), the Hohhot-based firm said in its latest earnings report released on Aug. 30. Revenue soared 18.9 percent to CNY56.5 billion (USD8.7 billion).

The strong growth is partly due to the low baseline last year when the epidemic hammered sales, said Zhao Lin, general manager of Yili's Investor Relations Department. A better array of products and Chinese people’s increased spending on dairy goods also helped, he added.

Arch-rival China Mengniu Dairy also did well in the first half with net profit more than doubling to CNY2.9 billion (USD448 million) and revenue surging 22.3 percent to CNY45.9 billion.

Editor: Kim Taylor