SINGAPORE - Mainboard-listed Chinese firm Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has reported a record quarterly earnings of 1.24 billion yuan (S$250.5 million), a 52 per cent spike in net profit from last year.

The jump in profit came about despite revenue dropping 3 per cent to 4.3 billion yuan.

The company said in a statement on Wednesday that its shipbuilding revenue declined by 3.2 per cent to 3.9 billion yuan as it delivered only nine vessels in the quarter, down from last year's 11 vessels.

Much of its earnings were buoyed by a 317 per cent jump in its other income to 215 million yuan, mainly due to a one off realisation of 130 million interest income from its cash deposit that matured during the three months to June 30.

A one-off tax refund of 349 million yuan also lent support to its bottomline as its wholly owned subsidiary, Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding, has been accredited as a high or new technology enterprise.

This enabled the unit to enjoy the preferential corporate income tax rate of 15 per cent starting from 2013 for a period of three years.

Net profit for the half year rose 33 per cent compared with the same period a year ago to 2.04 billion yuan, while revenue over the period gained 7 per cent to 7.83 billion yuan.

Earnings per share went up to 32.26 fen from 21.18 fen previously.

Net asset value per share rose to 4.9277 yuan at the end of June, from 4.6455 yuan as of the end of December.

Yangzijiang executive chairman Ren Yuanlin said in a statement: "The shipping industry continues to be on a steady recovery track and we have observed that ship owners are enhancing their focus on vessels' operational efficiencies.

"This has led to a rise in demand among the shipping industry for vessels that are more complex and larger. Going forward, the group shall redirect focus and resources steadily from its non-shipbuilding businesses towards building on its core strength in shipbuilding to further benefit from the recovering shipping industry."