China Mengniu Dairy said news of its milk products containing unsafe levels of a cancer-causing substance had affected sales in January, but it was confident it would meet this year's sales target.
The mainland's largest dairy reported net profit last year jumped 28.4 per cent to 1.59 billion yuan (HK$1.96 billion), and revenue grew 23.5 per cent to 37.4 billion yuan.
Wu Jingshui, the chief financial officer, said the incident in December had taken a toll on January sales, but refused to elaborate on the figures. 'We will take various measures to make sure our sales target for this year is met,' Wu said.
Deutsche Bank said in a report this month that Mengniu's sales may have dropped up to 20 per cent in January since the country's food safety watchdog found dangerous levels of aflatoxin M1 in one of 25 batches of UHT milk from Mengniu's Meishan plant in Sichuan.
Mengniu said it was caused by mouldy feed given to cows and that all tainted products were destroyed. Mengniu stock rose 5.02 per cent to HK$21.95 yesterday, still 16.5 per cent lower than three months ago, before the aflatoxin affair.
Wu said the company would continue to increase milk sources from ranches to ensure product quality.
