Wuliangye net profit drops 52 pct in Q3

High-end liquor producer Wuliangye Yibin Co's net profit dived 52.36 percent year-on-year to 1.31 billion yuan ($215.2 million) in the third quarter, said a filing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

During the quarterly period, the company reported revenue of 3.65 billion yuan, down 40 percent compared with the same period last year. In the first three quarters of this year, the company's net profit decreased 8.95 percent to 7.1 billion yuan.

Wuliangye said that due to the decrease in pre-orders, its total account collected in advance by the end of September has dropped drastically to 1.31 billion yuan, down 79.75 percent compared with the beginning of the quarter.

China's high-end liquor market has been cooling down after the central government launched the anti-extravagance campaign early this year. Moutai, Wuliangye's major rival, reported an 11.62 percent growth in profit for the third quarter, but this is smaller than the rate of over 100 percent in 2012's third quarter.