China: Tsingtao Brewery falls in Hong Kong, new tax rate to cut profit

Tsingtao Brewery Co., the Chinese beer company partly owned by Anheuser-Busch Cos., fell the most in a month in Hong Kong trading after saying 2007 profit will be reduced by a higher tax rate to be applied to its earnings, according to Bloomberg, April 16.

Tsingtao Brewery fell 8.4 percent to HK$18.92 in Hong Kong, the biggest decline since March 17. Its Shanghai- listed shares fell 1 percent to 23.87 yuan.

The company will pay income taxes at a 33 percent rate for 2007, it said in a statement to Shanghai's stock exchange today. Tsingtao Brewery, based in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, said in August its first-half income tax rate was 15 percent.

Profit for the first nine months of 2007 was 560 million yuan ($80 million) with the new tax rate and 695 million yuan without, Tsingtao Brewery said. The company will report full- year earnings on April 22.

Tsingtao Brewery will pay income taxes at a 25 percent rate in 2008, it said.

16 April, 2008