China's Tingyi net profit climbs 57 pct, ending 4 yrs of declining growth

HONG KONG, March 20 (Reuters) - Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp, a Chinese partner of Starbucks and PepsiCo, on Tuesday reported a 57 percent rise in annual net profit, ending four years of declines thanks to decreasing distribution costs and savings on advertising and promotion expenses.

Tingyi, owner of the Master Kong brand, said its profit for the January-December period rose to 1.82 billion yuan ($287.74 million) from a restated 1.16 billion yuan profit a year earlier. That compared with an average forecast of a 1.74 billion yuan ($275.5 million) profit, according to 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 6.1 percent to 58.95 billion yuan during the year from 55.58 billion yuan a year ago. Gross profit margin dropped 1.86 percentage point from a year ago to 29.41 percent.

The company has faced pressure amid rising raw material costs and rapidly changing consumer demands.

Shares of Tingyi, which jumpd 61 percent in 2017, were down 1.2 percent prior to the results were announced. ($1 = 6.3310 Chinese yuan renminbi) (1 Hong Kong dollar = 0.8073 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Shri Navaratnam)