Profits soar for Wolves owner Fosun
Fosun International, the Chinese conglomerate that owns Wolves, has reported a 33.6 per cent rise in net profit to £690 million in the first six months of 2017.
Fosun also saw its revenue increase by 11.6 per cent to £4.2 billion.
It said that its key businesses, which include healthcare group Fosun Pharma, Club Med, Yuyuan and Fosun Insurance Portugal, performed strongly during the six-month period.
Fosum, which has been steadily buying overseas businesses, bought Wolves for £30m from Steve Morgan last year.
It also owns a Shanghai hotel and tourism development company called Albion.
There was no mention, however, of the football club in Fosun's half year results statement yesterday as there also was in its annual report which was released in March.
It put the improvement in profits down to steady growth in its core businesses.
The insurance-to-tourism conglomerate has a market value of £10.5bn and has also taken control of French resort chain Club Med and Britain’s Thomas Cook Group.
The group, one of China's biggest privately-owned businesses, has come under scrutiny this year amid a drive by Beijing to suppress showy overseas deals.
It sold United States insurance business Ironshore to Liberty Mutual for US £2.94bn in May.
Fosun, founded in 1992, has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2007. It has split its operations into three core divisions of health, happiness and wealth, all of which achieved strong growth in the half year.
Over the past five years, Fosun has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 25 per cent in its net profit with earnings per share growing at a compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent.
The group has also invested in medical and maternal and infant product companies, such as the UK’s leading nursery brand Silver Cross.
Last month it announced the joint acquisition of a French healthy-spread company St-Hubert with Sanyuan Foods for £576 million.
