06888HK's revenue in the first half of 2015 rose 26.2 per cent year-on-year to 197.8 million yuan (HK $, the same below), while net profit rose 38.2 per cent to 18.4 million yuan, in line with expectations. Of this total, revenue from asphalt pavement maintenance services increased by 14.6% year-on-year to 143.9 million yuan, while revenue from asphalt pavement equipment increased by 72.9% to 53.8 million yuan. The overall gross profit margin fell 2.7 percentage points year-on-year to 38.8%.

In the first half of 2015, the company completed 1.436 million square meters of asphalt pavement maintenance services, an increase of 21.7 percent over the same period last year, but the maintenance unit price fell 5.8 percent to 98 yuan per square meter. During the period, the company sold 19 sets of standard asphalt pavement equipment, an increase of 3 sets over the same period last year, but the unit price per unit fell 22.3% to 1.4 million yuan compared with the same period last year. In addition, the company sold a combination of equipment in the first half of the year, but not in the first half of last year.

Lower earnings per share forecasts for 2015-2017 by 4.0 per cent, 10.5 per cent and 12.7 per cent to HK $0.072, HK $0.077 and HK $0.083. Slightly lower the company's target price to HK $1.32, corresponding to 18.4 Universe's price-to-earnings ratio of 17.1 to 15.9 for 2015, 2016 and 2017. Due to the attraction of valuation, it was raised to "buy".