China's oldest Peking duck restaurant chain, Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd., reported on Monday that its 2007 profit rose 3.84 percent on booming business outside Beijing.

Net profit reached 64.32 million yuan (9.2 million U.S. dollars), with earnings per share of 0.59 yuan, the restaurant said in its annual report. Its brand dates back to 1864 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the last imperial rulers of China.

Revenue rose 14.5 percent to 917 million yuan, about 95 percent of which came from restaurants in Beijing.

Business in the northeastern area of Changchun and the southwestern region of Chongqing soared more than 1,700 times and 1.7 times, with revenue of 25 million yuan and 14 million yuan, respectively.

Business in Shanghai grew less than 10 percent to 13 million yuan.

Apart from nine restaurants in the above four cities, Quanjude also has 61 franchised outlets, including 56 on the mainland and five overseas. The company predicted its profit would grow 12 percent in 2008.

Quanjude was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in November, becoming the first Chinese food and beverage company to go public. Its shares fell 0.19 percent to 47.61 yuan on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2008)