Hong Kong's sole gas supplier HK and China Gas, also known as Towngas, announced Tuesday that the profit attributable for the group's shareholders in the first half of 2010 stood at 2.97 billion HK dollars, representing a drop of 1.13 percent from the same period last year.

In a statement released via the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the group said it has earned a revenue of 10.41 billion HK dollars in the six-month period ending on June 30. The figure was 66 percent higher than that period in 2009. Meanwhile, earnings per share for the first half of 2010 remained at 41.3 HK cents.

Towngas said the slight decrease in profit attributable to shareholders was caused by reductions in a one-off gain and profits from sale of properties.

Towngas noted that during the period under review, the group's businesses in both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland recorded good growth, saying it expects the increase of about 25,000 new customers in Hong Kong for the whole of 2010 and maintain faster growth momentum in the mainland.