The board of directors of Jiashili Group Limited announced that, based on a preliminary assessment of the unaudited consolidated management accounts of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2015 and information currently available to the Board, the Group is expected to record a growth of not less than 15% in the net profit from continuing operation excluding non-recurring items for the year ended 31 December 2015, compared with that for the year ended 31 December 2014. The non-recurring items in 2014 represent listing expenses of approximately RMB 15.8 million and fair value loss on the convertible promissory notes issued prior to the company's listing of approximately RMB 2.7 million. The non-recurring items in 2015 represent the provisions made for the costs and expenses associated with the Group's planned relocation of a factory in 2016 of approximately RMB 7.0 million.

The aforesaid growth in net profit is primarily attributable to (a) the increase in revenue mainly driven by the sales contribution from the Group's new biscuit product launched in the second half of 2014 and the continued growth in sales of certain principal products of the Group; and (b) the improvement in gross profit margin, the combined effect of which has been partly offset by the increase in advertising and promotion expenses, staff costs, transportation expenses, and legal and professional fees incurred by the Group during the year. The improvement in the gross profit margin was mainly contributed by the continuing optimisation of product portfolio with increased sales proportion of products of higher margin, while the cost of raw material as a percentage of sales was lower and the average direct labour cost was saved through further automation of production facilities.