Based on the preliminary review of the unaudited consolidated management accounts of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2021, the profit attributable to equity holders of the Company for 2021 is expected to show an increase of over 10% as compared to that for the year ended 31 December 2020. If the one-off effect of recovery of the amount of trade receivables from Tianjin Steel Pipe Manufacturing Co., Ltd. by the Group in the corresponding period in 2020 which accordingly reversed the bad debt provision of approximately HK$51.54 million and the nominal effect of foreign exchange gains for those two years arising from the Company’s foreign currency transactions (the Company is expected to record foreign exchange gains of approximately HK$20.00 million for 2021, and the foreign exchange gains recorded in 2020 was approximately HK$135.77 million) are excluded, the profit attributable to equity holders of the Company for 2021 is expected to show an increase of over 100%, compared to that for the year ended 31 December 2020.
Such increase was mainly due to the following factors:
(1) driven by the dual carbon targets and the ecological and environmental protection policies in Mainland China, the revenue and profit from the principal businesses of the Group recorded significant growth; and (2) the gross profit margin of the principal businesses of the Group recorded steady growth.