Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the joint press conference for CITIC Limited 2026 interim results. It is my great pleasure to gather with all of you here by the beautiful Huangpu River in the season of osmanthus fragrance. My name is Zhang Yunting, Director of the Board Office of CITIC Group and Joint Company Secretary of CITIC Limited, and also your host for today. Today's press conference holds great significance for us.
In recent years, investors trading through the Hong Kong Stock Connect have shown growing investment appetite and research interest in CITIC Limited, with their shareholding ratio rising steadily. Thanks to the strong support of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, SSE, CITIC Limited, which is a listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, this is our first time to organize this first joint performance press conference with our major listed subsidiaries in the role of the SSE.
This is also the innovative practice by CITIC to actively embrace, respond to, and win the trust of the market. Shanghai is an international financial center, and the SSE is one of the world's leading stock exchanges, gathering the most active long-term funds, professional investors, analysts, and financial media from both domestic and overseas. It is an extremely valuable opportunity for our communication.
Today, we have the old friends of CITIC and also many new friends here. This is a great gathering of all the talents from different areas. First of all, on behalf of our company, I would like to extend a warm welcome and sincere gratitude to all investors, analysts, and media friends who have been long paying attention to us and supporting our development in the past. Thank you so much.
CITIC Limited is one of China's largest integrated enterprise group. Its parent company, CITIC Group, originated from China International Trust and Investment Corporation, which was established by Rong Yiren in 1979, under the advocacy and support of comrade former Chairman Deng Xiaoping. As one of China's earliest enterprise to go global after reform and opening up, CITIC Group served as a key pilot for economic reform and window for opening up, attracting foreign capital and introducing advanced technologies, equipment, and management expertise.
After years of development, CITIC Group has gradually grown into a large-scale integrated multinational enterprise group with industry finance integration diversified business format covering about 160 countries and regions. Over the past half-century, CITIC has always been at the forefront of China's opening up to the outside world. From being a window for China's reform and opening up at its inception to striving to act as a bridge connecting the wealth in the new era, we are building the service brand proposition that is to turn to CITIC for going global and turn to CITIC for entering China.
We fully support China's high-level opening up, growing stronger and better while serving the country's needs and the people's aspirations. Standing at a new starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, CITIC is deeply promoting the three-three-five strategy for high-quality development. In the half wonders year, the company adhered to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability and moving towards the new horizons. Our operating performance for both quantity and quality increased, and the development momentum accelerated. The main indicators for operations have become more impressive. We have delivered strong interim results because of that.
Today, CITIC Limited, together with CITIC Financial Holdings and four of our subsidiaries, gathered at the SSE for CITIC's collective public presentation. We hope to guide stakeholders and shareholders through a clear value chain to gain further, fuller insight into the fruitful outcomes of the CITIC future high-quality development. We will elaborate on the CITIC development strategy and also the business drivers.
Our earnings release aim to go beyond mere numerical disclosure, but also serve as an invest value-oriented dialogue. Now I'd like to introduce the leaders who are presented here today. They are Mr. Hu Gang, Executive Director and Vice President of China CITIC Bank. Mr. Qian Gang, Chairman of CITIC Pacific Special Steel. And Mr. Zou Yingguang, Executive Director, General Manager, Executive Committee Member of the CITIC Securities. And Ms. Zhang Li, Director of the Board Office CITIC Financial Holdings.
Ms. Zhu Liqun, General Manager of the Wealth Management CITIC Financial Holdings. Mr. Yang Quanying, Deputy General Manager of the Financial Management of CITIC Group. And Mr. Zhang Xuejun , Deputy General Manager of the Strategic Development of CITIC Group. And Mr. Wang Meng, Director and General Manager of CITIC Metal. Also attending today's press conference are the secretaries, shareholders, also financial directors attending today's meeting.
According to the agenda, we will first invite Mr. Yang Quanying, Deputy General Manager of the Finance Development, Management Department of CITIC Group, to present the briefing on CITIC Limited 2026 interim results. Then we will be followed by a Q&A session, and the online Q&A is also available via the interactive platform. You're welcome to submit your questions. Now I'd like to hand over to Mr. Yang Quanying.
Dear analysts, investors, media friends, good afternoon. First of all, I'd like to give you the 2026 interim results. There are two parts of our presentation. The first part is the overall performance, and the second part is the business performance of different segments. First of all, the overall performance in half one, 2026. Facing with the external conditions and environment, our company continued to improve the management efficiency and seize market opportunity, and we achieved the growth in revenue and profit outperforming the market.
Specifically, the revenue reached CNY 408 billion in the half one, up by 10.7%, mainly because of the CITIC Metal and CITIC Securities actively captured the opportunities from rising commodity prices and capital markets, respectively. Net profit reached CNY 70.8 billion, and profit attributable to the shareholders reached CNY 33.8 billion, up by 18.3% and 8.1% respectively, YoY.
Mainly driven by sound profit growth at the Securities and also the Metal and Bank company. I'd like to talk about the continuous optimization of the revenue structure. In two aspects. First, the financial strengthening project has been advanced continuously. Also the cost has been further improved. In the first half of the year, the company achieved a net fee and commissions income of CNY 39.7 billion, an increase of 22% YoY.
The proportion of financial business income reached 24.7%, up by 1.6% YoY. Also CITIC Securities revenue from the brokerage, investment banking and asset management all achieved a significant growth. Also the agency business growth for the CITIC Bank as well, as well as the trusted business scale expanded. Second, the international business has also maintained very rapid growth.
In half one, the company achieved overseas revenue of CNY 84.7 billion, an increase of 29% YoY. The proportion of total revenue reached 20.7%, up by 2.9% YoY. By the end of the first half of the year, the overseas total assets reached CNY 1.48 billion, an increase of 11% from the beginning of the year. CITIC Securities' overseas business has grown significantly, achieving revenue of CNY 11.8 billion, an increase of 71% YoY.
The Dicastal business has also shown an increase of aluminum wheels, ranking first in the world, and increased by 9.9% YoY. In terms of the operating expenses, the company's cost to income ratio in half one was 31.6%, decreased by 2.6% YoY, also a continued downward trend in subsidiaries such as CITIC Bank, CITIC Securities, and CITIC Metal have reduced the cost to income ratio.
The further half one, the profit to labor cost has also reached 197% in the first half of the year, an increase of 19 percentage points YoY. Also a very virtuous cycle. In terms of the financing cost, we have continued consolidated the achievements of reducing financial costs and non-financial business interest expenses totaling CNY 4.76 billion in the first half, and a decrease of CNY 100 million YoY.
So a decline of 6%. We continue to improve its asset liability management with steady increase in assets size. In terms of the asset size, in terms of the end of the first half of the year, the total assets has reached CNY 13.65 trillion, increased by 4.1% from the beginning of the year. The financial sector assets continued to grow steadily, reaching CNY 12.96 trillion, up by 5.2% from the beginning of the year.
CITIC Bank's assets amounted to CNY 10.39 trillion, an increase of 2.5% from the beginning of the year. CITIC Securities reached CNY 2.47 trillion, an increase of 19% off the beginning of the year. Liabilities side, at the end of the first half of the year, company's non-financial business interest-bearing liabilities has shown a decrease of 3.9% off the beginning of the year.
The CITIC headquarters also used the funds from the return of the final IM and also the dividends from subsidiaries to reduce outstanding debt. CITIC Metal and CITIC Pacific Special Steel both achieved effective debt reduction as well. Thanks to the improvement in performance, the company's earnings per share in the first half of the year increased by 8.1% YoY, reaching CNY 1.16 per share.
In order to show our thanks to the shareholders, we will also plan to distribute an interim dividend of CNY 0.21 per share, an increase of 5% YoY. In terms of the ratings, we maintain the A3 rating according to Moody's, and also has been revised from stable to positive, reaching the best level in the history. CITIC Bank's rating is maintained at the Ba2, with the outlook revised from stable to positive. In terms of MSCI ESG rating, we're also upgraded from A to the A+. So you see, we have delivered a very good report card in the first half of the year. Now I'd like to give you some more information about different segments and its performance. First of all, this is the financial service segment.
In terms of that area, we have achieved a revenue of CNY 160.6 billion, YoY increase of 14.5% in the half one. We realized a profit attributable to shareholders at CNY 31.7 billion with a YoY increase of 11.8%. Segment competitive advantage continues to consolidate. We are also leading in direct funding, asset management across all the financial business and also for many other aspects, including the bond underwriting.
The total asset scale reached CNY 11.69 trillion. Now, coming to the CITIC Bank. We found that in the first half of the year, the NIM, the net interest margin on NIM, reported 1.62%, down slightly on the basis of 1 BP YoY. Also cost control has continued to strengthen, leading to a reduction of CNY 300 million in operating expenses, down by 2.1% YoY. The cost-to-income ratio decreased by 1.35 percentage points YoY, reaching 25.46%.
The net profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 37.6 billion, with a YoY increase of 3.1%. The bank's asset, AL structure continued to optimize with the balance of the deposited loans, rising by 3.8% and 2.5% respectively from the beginning of the year. The proportion of the medium long-term loans in general loans rose to 67.29%. The asset quality of the banks remains stable.
At the end of June, the non-performing loan ratio was 1.15%, unchanged from the end of the previous year. The provision coverage ratio was at 203.2%, and the risk coverage liability was sufficient. CITIC Securities achieved double-digit growth in revenue from all major business lines in the first half of the year, with a revenue of CNY 49.7 billion and net profit attributable to the shareholders of listed companies of CNY 23.3 billion, increased by 50% and 59.6% YoY.
CITIC Securities ranked the first in the massive market and the largest equity underwriting scale and bond underwriting scale. M&A deal size in the Chinese market also achieved the top position in the industry. The international business of CITIC Securities continues to grow rapidly. In terms of the number of securities, equity project and IPO sponsorship in Hong Kong also ranked second in the market. The underwriting scale of the Hong Kong's refunding and Chinese offshore bonds ranks it first among Chinese security companies. It completed the largest global M&A deals for Chinese enterprises.
We would like to share with you that on 6th of August 2026, CITIC Securities completed the private placement and for the financial business, we have further enhanced the strength. This is a solid foundation for future performance. Now we take a look at the CITIC Trust. We focus on transformation and development of its principal business. CITIC Trust has steadily improved its operating efficiency, recording revenue of CNY 2,937 million and a profit of CNY 1,722 million, up 0.7% and 9.8% YoY, respectively.
Trust assets under management rose to CNY 4.15 trillion. Also, there is a new business expansion to the expansion finance and also it is selected as a trustee for Jiangsu Province Occupational Annuity Supplementary Scheme. About CITIC-Prudential Life. The first half seasoned income reaching CNY 24,431 million, up 29.6% YoY, outperforming the industry. Value transformation continued to deepen.
Sales of floating return and protection type of products were actively promoted with annualized new premiums up 21% YoY and new business value up 13% YoY. Risk rating indicators improved. The integrated risk rating remained at category AA under class A. Now we take a look at the advanced intelligent manufacturing. In the first half, the revenue was CNY 29,588 million, up 8.5% YoY.
Profits attributable to ordinary shareholders reached CNY 433 million, down 5.5% YoY, due to exchange losses caused by RMB appreciation. CITIC Heavy Industries achieved a breakthrough in key international markets and in the first half, Heavy Industries reached the revenue of CNY 4,025 million and profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 209 million, up 1.1% and 3.0% respectively.
It supported 23 consecutive successful launches of Shenzhou spacecraft and as the lead contractor for the net-based recovery system, supported China's first successful offshore rocket net capture recovery mission. CITIC Dicastal as the core business of the advanced intelligent manufacturing. As we mentioned before, its overseas sales had a growth of 9.9%, and its integrated die-casting technology achieved the bulk delivery of finished products with two new supporting units and an annual output of about 300,000 pieces.
Magnesium alloy completed forming and inspection pilot production line and robotic housing rapid prototypes were delivered. This is about advanced materials. In half one, the revenue was CNY 185,116 million, and profit about CNY 6,102 million, up 13.1% and 7.7% YoY respectively. Facing downward pressure in the steel industry, the two companies achieved a steady growth in sales volume and CITIC Metal's copper, niobium, and other non-ferrous metals business performed well. Firstly, about CITIC Pacific Special Steel. In the first half, operating revenue reached CNY 53,672 million, down 1.9% YoY, while profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 2,990 million, up 6.9% YoY. Business scale grew against the downtrend with renewed products.
Product reiterations were accelerated and the high-end bearing steel and the automotive steel sales increased by 16.1% and 14.7% YoY respectively. Overall sales of the key Little Giant projects increased by 23.2% YoY. Building technological modes to drive long-term growth. High-end product iteration accelerated with new offering reached 1.4 million tons in the first half, and high-grade products reaching 2.75 million tons. Core technological strength was recognized by both domestic and international authorities.
About CITIC Pacific Special Steel, the operating revenue reached CNY 31,131 million, up 7.6% YoY. Profit about CNY 1,320 million, down 9.6% YoY due to lower non-recurring gains, and principal business operations remained resilient and stable. Steel sales volume reached 4.75 million tons in the first half, up 5.7% YoY. The Indonesia coker project turned fully operational, achieving coker sales of 2.51 million tons, and contribution from high-end products increased. Sales of advanced steel materials reached 1.45 million tons in first half, accounting for 30.57% of total sales. Now, about the CITIC Metal. In the first half, the company reached a revenue of CNY 86,911 million, and profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 2,673 million, up 36.5% and 84.6% YoY respectively.
The Las Bambas mine project maintained stable production and improved efficiency, producing about 210,000 tons of copper content in copper concentrates flat YoY. CBMM's production and sales both increased, further consolidating its leadership in niobium with global market share remaining above 70%. As a whole, KK copper mine produced a total of 136,000 tons of anode copper.
Bleached copper or concentrate recovered from slag and advanced treating products increased in both volume and quality. Ferrous unit adhered to a prudent operating strategy and business operation proceeded steadily. About CITIC Energy. In first half, revenue reached CNY 5,690 million, up 30.4% YoY due to a lower production volume at the Xinqilong coal mine, declines in the new energy utilization hours and annual contracted electricity prices. Profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 722 million. Now we take a look at the new consumption.
This segment had the revenue of CNY 20,753 million, down 11.8% YoY. The loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of CNY 50 million. CITIC Press maintained the number one retail market share in sales among single publishers in China, while non-book businesses achieved a relatively faster growth. For the CITIC Telecom International, in the first half, the revenue reached HKD 4,748 million, and the regional leadership continued to strengthen.
CTM acquired Hutchison Macau, further consolidating its leading market position. For CITIC Press, in the first half, revenue reached CNY 791 million, and profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 877 million. Cultural communication influence board and focusing on four key directions: technology trends, economy and finance, children's picture books and vertical comics. It also introduced 160 copyrights, exported 120 copyrights and won 292 awards. Non-book business grew strongly.
Digital intelligence services and IP business both achieved revenue and profit growth. CITIC Agriculture, the core seed market has the high inventory in China affected by that and extreme weather during Brazil's planting season. In the first half, the business loss was CNY 218 million, with losses increasing by CNY 68 million YoY. Specialized and sophisticated businesses grew.
Premium teaser price proactively deployed by Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture, achieved a 20% revenue growth by meeting changes in market demand. Anhui Tsuen Yin seed revenue rose sharply by 141.5% with support from core program policies. Chili pepper seeds achieved revenue growth for nine consecutive years. For the property, and there is the For the new type of urbanization segment, recorded revenue of CNY 12,648 million. Property development has seen the pressured market environment.
Revenue reached CNY 3,480 million. The projects in Wuxian, Yangzhou, achieved centralized delivery with a one-time visit delivery rate of 100% for both projects. Shenzhen Sino Bay project set a benchmark for high-quality residential projects and achieved two launches with two sell-outs. Affected by slower growth in construction industry and tighter PPP project policies, revenue reached CNY 10,102 million, down 7.7% YoY. Cost reduction delivered significant results.
The TKU and KB Road construction projects in Kazakhstan were fully operational, and a large building construction project in Dubai, the U.A.E. Dear analysts and dear media friends, in the first half, by reviewing the performance, we have the growth in both revenue and profit. In the second half, we will continue to implement the three-three-five strategy to enhance our valuation innovation capability to give even higher returns to the shareholders and investors. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Quanying , for the presentation. Now we open the Q&A session. Please state your name and organization before asking questions. We will take the first question.
Dear managers and executives from CITIC, I am Huang Yinghao from RuiDing Fund. Thanks for the opportunity to ask a question. This year is the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and I see that CITIC Limited has the three-three-five high-quality development strategy. Could you give us more details about this strategy? Also, would you like to introduce the kind of advances and retreats in business layout?
Now we have the CITIC Group Strategic and Development Department, Mr. Zhang Xuejun , to respond to your question.
Thank you for the question. I would like to share two aspects. The first one is about strategic planning. We closely follow the national development plan and also follow the market dynamics as well as CITIC capacities and capabilities. We have put forward the three-three-five high-quality development strategy with the aim to build a world-class science and technology enterprise group. It is not starting from scratch, but a systematic review and upgrade based on the strategic practice.
The three numbers, three-three-five, represent three main businesses, respectively, three major projects and five key measures. The first three is to strengthen and optimize the financial industry and invest in three main businesses. I believe you already know that. We elevate the business of investment to the same height as the financial sector, which is not a simple conceptual adjustment, but a strategic choice based on CITIC's endowment and capabilities.
As our Chairman Xi introduced at the March earnings briefing, investment is not a new business for CITIC. Since its inception, the company has been marked by its investment DNA. It also possesses a range of financial licenses that other investment institutions do not have. So CITIC Equity Alliance has comprised more than 10 companies' financial and industrial resources.
Now in the total asset under management is over CNY 350 billion. Also, we have co-incubated more than 1,300 technology enterprises. CITIC Securities, CITIC Construction Investment Securities, and also in the first half of the year have added 60 + projects. We have achieved a very good start and smooth operation. So we will further fulfill our positioning as the long-term capital, and also the multiplier of reform and development for the country. The second suite is about the integration of the financial industries and also focus on these three different kind of industry, including the industrial, finance and technology projects. These three projects aim to build ourself into a world-class or first-class financial holding group.
In the 15th Five-Year Plan, we will focus on the securities, banking, trust, and finance insurance as the basis, and then build a demonstration or pilot project, with the five focuses. In terms of that kind of level, we already rank the largest in terms of the business scope and the market share in those three areas I just mentioned earlier. For the next stage, we want to shift it from the largest scale to the strongest strength. That is our positioning. Also, recently we have increased our capital to CITIC Securities by CNY 15 billion, which is one of the major measures we have implemented. The core of the real economy new chain project is to build high-end industrial cluster.
As you know, we have some subsidiaries focusing on steel, the special steels, for example, and automotive lightweight, manufacturing equipment manufacturing, scarce resources, cooperating and things like that. For instance, our Dicastal company is well-known for its largest production and supplying of the aluminum auto parts. Also, CITIC Heavy Industries has made continuous breakthroughs in core technologies.
Also, CITIC Metal has been the leading position in the local market in terms of nickel product. Our two steel companies have also ranked top in terms of the iron steel manufacturing or making. During the 15th Five-Year Plan, we will continue to promote the three efforts initiated in the Xinglian Project. We strive to achieve the goals of better linking and clustering. In terms of the renewable, it means we were cultivating the champion business and promoting more industrial subsidiaries to the benchmark against the best.
That means we need to combine our capability with the investment focus, as we mentioned earlier, so we can explore high-quality targets with high technology and high growth. And currency means to explore new business opportunities, so make good use of the two brokerages. In terms of the core technology engineer, the core is to build a highland for technological innovation and set up a vision of being a world-class technology enterprise group.
The focus is on technology. The technology as our cornerstone for the future development in terms of this project. So we increase not just the investment in the scientific research, but also a temporary emergency arrangement and also long-term strategic choice made by CITIC based on the national strategies. Those platforms we are trying to build, we call it 2+4+N technology cluster platform.
In the past year, two of our achievements have won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. In terms of comprehensive finance development, we have obtained 18 achievements, and also the first prize, two first prize, awarded by the People's Bank of China and also many other awards. on August 28th, the newly announced the 2026 Metallurgical Science and Technology Awards have been obtained by us.
Also have achieved another 27 achievements, which also have us won a lot of different awards. The three major projects, as I mentioned earlier, can fully reflect our comprehensive strengths in industry and finance integration, and also can demonstrate our capability to how to demonstrate or promote the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain. This is a three-three-five.
In terms of the five, it highlights the strengthening of the management and the prevention of risks, improvement of the collaboration, cultivation of talents, and also enhancement of the quality and many other aspects. So those are five aspects we are going to focus. First of all, I would like to come to the collaboration improvement. CITIC business has always emphasized the philosophy of collaboration or cooperation.
So the collaboration among industries, between different sectors or industry and industrial business or segments and the financial segments. So we are always aiming to build a good bridge between China and the rest of the world. So the three three five strategy focus on the synergy of the three main businesses, the in-depth advancement of three major projects, and also the five key measures. So in order to explore a sustainable path for value creation.
Second, you talk about the strategic arrangement or planning and also business layout. I understand the question as, how can we make a trade-off, and also how can we still adhere to the principles of doing something that is necessary and avoiding something that is not necessary? So we are focusing on serving the establishment of a strong financial nation in the center-only core orientation on several aspects.
So there are two main areas specifically. First is we will continue strengthening our core financial business. So all our subsidiaries, especially in the financial aspect, they are the cornerstone, will provide a very vital role in profit contribution. And second is about the acceleration of the emerging future industry focus. So we mentioned three renewal projects. That is renewal, creation, and exploration.
Those three actions or project will help us to focus on our advantages, including the industrial cluster advantage in equipment manufacturing, mineral resources, and special steel and things like that. So currently, we are building on our foundation existing industry subsidiaries, and we are also focusing on the emerging industry, including new energy, new materials, robotics, life sciences, and other sectors.
And there are two aspects of the progress we are making. That means we will make strategic overall arrangement for progress. And also, if necessary, we will also retreat in some sectors. So when the sectors is not good for further investment, we will make a withdrawal necessarily. Since we start the work from 2024, the legal person company number has been reduced by 13% within our ecosystem. So we have carried out the work very steadily, even probably the outside world didn't feel that very strongly.
But gradually you will understand our logic of eliminating some unnecessary businesses or segments. So those are for our operation logic. Finally, I also want to say, during the 14th Five-Year Plan, we had a very successful implementation. It has also guided CITIC Group to be one of the world's 500 company, and we have advanced the ranking to top 115. From 115 to top 59. And this year is the starting year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. And our strategies continues and coherent from last Five-Year Plan. So we are confident that we are able to implement our strategies in the next five year. Thank you.
Now, I'd like to invite the second people to mention your question.
Thank you, management, for the opportunity. My name is Mao Qingqing from CICC. My question is: When China is facilitating the progress of building a strong financial nation, there is a high requirement for high-quality development of financial sector. CITIC has the most comprehensive financial certificates or the licenses. What kind of a role are you playing in terms of advancing this strong financial powerhouse for China?
I would like to ask Zhang Li to answer the question.
There are six elements of a strong financial powerhouse for China. The CITIC Bank, CITIC Securities, CITIC Trust, and CITIC-Prudential Life Insurance Company are all the key elements for that kind of development. We are leveraging our strong financial capabilities and agencies, actively exploring the innovations in integrated financial models. By pooling all those resources and institutions into one ecosystem, they can collaborate more actively.
This is transforming the powerful financial institutions from just a concept to a very closely knitted system with enhanced capabilities. There are three layers for our roles in facilitating that powerhouse development. First of all, we innovate in collaborative services. We create the wealth management committee by establishing one plus four plus seven mechanism. We have a dual chairman system for subcommittees. Therefore, we establish a set of well-defined institutional arrangements so we can have better co-creation of products and the management of our clients and development of our ecosystem in a better way. This is our way to shape our branding values and also can give us many more opportunities in coming up with 10 innovative models that has already been created in the past.
Also, in the first half of the year, the AUM of our financial holding company has reached CNY 12.9 trillion , with a revenue of CNY 154 billion , net profit of CNY 65 billion . Net profit attributable to the shareholders of listed companies of 30.9 billion, up by 18%, 22%, and 13% respectively, YoY. CITIC has the largest direct investment institution in China. We continue to receive higher recognition by the capital market. Second, we continue to make lean management on our capital management.
We try to achieve cost reduction. In the first half of the year, we have saved CNY 3 billion of capital costs in half month. ROE up by 0.601% YoY, which has exceeded more than 10%. Also at the same time, we are supplementing the capital to the subsidiaries in orderly manner. For example, to the CITIC Bank, over CNY 26 billion convertible bond conversion, CITIC-Prudential Life Insurance Company, that is the 2.5 billion capital increase, CITIC Securities, 16 billion private placement project. On the third layer, that is related to risk management and risk prevention.
We have been going deeper in that direction. Build on our perspectives with parent company, we have built a comprehensive risk management system across different entities and risk business forms. We have built three lines of defense, early warning, mid-stage control, and post-coordination from risk mitigation. Including covering unified credits and concentrated limit management mechanism in order to present and control the risks better. In the first half of the year, we have mitigated risks by about CNY 8.2 billion, and disposal of non-performing loans amounted to nearly CNY 3.8 billion .
We also build a benchmarking project such as Shenzhen Qianhai Bay. The risk in comprehensive financial center effects continue to converge. In addition, we also deepen the development of the compliance system to successfully complete the three-year compliance measurement improvement campaign. The efficiency of the financial holding platform has solidified our foundations with a further improvement.
Firstly, the most obvious value is to unleash the collaborative potential of the full financial license. The financial holding company builds a collaborative platform, establishes a mechanism and a system and rules, and guides the system synergy, making collaboration the norm, moving forward towards a system. When clients face CITIC, they feel the entire set of solutions. For the full financial license, we could better serve clients' needs and serve the real economy.
CITIC and the clients are more deeply rooted. Second, the most unique value lies in the combination of CITIC's financial capabilities and the real economy scenarios, where finance injects fresh blood into the real economy. The real economy provides application scenarios for finance, so the two achieve risk mitigation through synergy. This is the most typical case, and trusts isolate risk, banks inject liquidity, and the real economy thrives.
Third, the most sustainable value lies in relying on the financial core initiatives. We continue to advance during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and we comprehensively enhance the comprehensive financial business and five core competitiveness. We excel in six business formats and strengthen six business ecosystems and upgrade the financial core initiative. Looking to the future, we will continue to explore a development model for financial holding company that suits China's characteristics, and pursue multidimensional empowerment and becomes the really important force in building CITIC and China into one with strong financial capabilities.
Now, the third question.
Thank you. I am Analyst Liu Yihong from the GF Securities. Thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. Our company is committed to developing into the best direct financing and comprehensive asset management company. We would like to know more about the latest achievement and the future plans. That is the first question. The second question is about the Fintech and how to empower the new quality productive forces, and what is your unique advantages?
Okay. We have the wealth management department of CITIC Financial Holdings.
Thank you for this question. It is about how the finance could serve the real economy precisely. For us, we firmly implement the decisions and arrangements from the Party Central Committee, and we practice the political and people-oriented nature of financial work. We do our best to meet people's needs for a better life. Our response in aspects of the asset management and the direct financing in Shanghai at this year's Lujiazui Forum, the Governor of the People's Bank of China, Mr. Pan, already pointed out that China's financial structure is undergoing profound changes. Based on a set of data in China's incremental financing in 2025, the combined proportion of bonds under equities has reached 47%, exceeding the 45% of RMB loans for the first time.
This indicates the decades-old financing pattern dominated by bank credit has reached a structural inflection point. It aims to increase the proportion of direct financing. From our market practice, equity financing in the A-share market is further concentrated on the technology IPO in Hong Kong. Stock market has rebounded significantly and the issuance of science and technology, innovation bonds and REITs has been accelerated. In terms of the R&D and industrialization technology and policy, we have seen the coordination. According to CITIC's data, CITIC maintains a market-leading position in direct financing in the first half. It boasts a larger scale and has seized structural opportunities. The direct financing business scale reached almost CNY 2.8 trillion. Its equity bond and REIT business also ranked first.
It has helped a number of high-quality enterprises to successfully go public, and at some special times, such as in May, when we participated in the Ministry of Finance, the first issuance of green offshore RMB bonds in Hong Kong, and in June when we participated in the centralized signing offshore RMB bonds. For us, we will deepen our roots in the multi-tiered capital market and expand equity and debt financing.
Secondly, around the industrial chain, we will seize the opportunity for M&A and restructuring and extend our services from enterprises IPO to industrial integration and market value management. We will expand or broaden financing channels for domestic enterprises. As for asset management, if direct financing answers the question of where the money for the real economy comes from, asset management answers where the money of social wealth goes.
The essence of asset management is based on the fiduciary responsibility through specialized asset allocation, smoothing cross-cycle risks, converting them into sustainable long-term returns. Our requirements for ourselves can be summed up in four words: focusing on both quantity and quality. In terms of quantity, CITIC has achieved a high growth on a high base.
As of the end of June, the overall asset management scale of CITIC is nearly CNY 11.7 trillion, up by 8.6% over the beginning of the year. The average growth rate of the market is 3.89%, and the asset management trust has a scale of over CNY 2 trillion, ranking among the top tier. We mainly need to enhance our active management capabilities to achieve a win-win situation for clients' wealth appreciation and social responsibility. Fixed income products outperformed the benchmark by 10 basis points.
The asset management institution of CITIC jointly created the CITIC platform to empower projects in public welfare projects, children's education, and medical assistance, with a total donation of over CNY 20 million. The temperature of the wealth is not only reflected in the rate of return, but also in the hope it brings. We will focus in the future on enhancing three capabilities. We will strengthen our internal capabilities, including investment research and advisory, and deepen the presence in key areas such as technology and elderly care.
We will help clients identify quality assets. Second, we will strengthen supply capabilities. All the asset management institutions under CITIC will leverage their unique advantages, improve the long-term mechanism for product creation, operational efficiency. Three, we need to enhance cohesion. We will deepen cooperation with leading onshore and offshore asset management institutions and introduce high-quality institutions and overseas assets. Now about FinTech.
As the first of the five key areas, the focus is on facilitating the virtuous cycle of technology industry and finance, and accelerating the cultivation of new productivity from a single innovative seed to a lush rainforest. Technology innovation calls for patient capital and financial companionship throughout the entire life cycle. Horizontally, it covers the seed, startup, growth, and mature stages of enterprises.
Vertically, we connect with the banks, securities, trusts, insurance, funds, asset management, futures, leasing, and other full licensed resources, providing diversified services in equity, investment, debt, loan, and guarantee. In terms of equity, in the first half, CITIC Equity Alliance established 14 new funds with a new fund management scale of CNY 12.4 billion, both doubling year over year, and one quarter of which was invested in the hard technology or the core technology.
In terms of equity financing, the underwriting scale of stock market GM and AIIQ was CNY 33 billion. The balance of loans to strategically emerging industries and future industries exceeded CNY 780 billion in terms of bonds. The underwriting of stock market bonds was CNY 208 billion, ranking first. In terms of a guarantee, we co-create risk-sharing products with local government guarantee institutions, providing exclusive group insurance services.
The unique advantages of us can be summarized into three points. The first is the overall planning of the financial holding platform, where financial institutions operate independently and the technology enterprises engage in multiple connections. The role of CITIC Financial Holding is to unite stocks, bonds, and insurance. The second is the two-way empowerment of industrial finance. Hard tech companies often lack more than just money. They need application scenarios.
We open up our industrial application ecosystem to technology companies, empowering the commercialization of technology achievements. Third is the leading advantage of cross-border financial services. We have a business spanning over 160 countries and regions. We have established a service brand of "When going overseas, come to CITIC. When coming to China, also come to CITIC." From Hong Kong IPO to offshore bond issuance and from cross-border settlement to global supply chain layout, we accompany enterprises all the way from product export to global layout expansion. We are shouldering our responsibility to act as the national team of long-term capital through comprehensive financial services, industrial empowerment. We will make our contribution.
Thank you. Now, the fourth question.
Thank you for this opportunity. I am Analyst Chen Jing from Western Securities. My question goes to CITIC Bank. The bank has remarkable achievements in recent years, with the share price outperforming the market for many years. Based on the performance of the first half, would you like to share with us how to realize the good momentum of development and what is the thought for future development?
This question goes to CITIC Bank. We have the Vice President of CITIC Bank, Mr. Hu, to answer your question.
Thank you for the question. The first question is about the developmental momentum. I will share two aspects. Firstly, from half one performance, CITIC Bank has two highlights. One is from the financial data. The other highlight is from the stock price. In terms of financial data, we have three characteristics. One is in the both or dual increase in the revenue and profit exceeding 3%.
Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we are one of the few banks to maintain the property for growth in net profit. The second characteristic is the stability in quality. The NPL ratio was 1.15%, flat within the last year, and the non-performing loan generation rate was 0.55%, also unchanged from last year. The provision coverage ratio was 203.1%, remains above 200%. The third characteristic is cost reduction.
Our operating costs decreased by 2.1% YoY. Our cost-to-income ratio also decreased by 1.35% YoY. About the share price. CITIC Bank's stock price has been outperforming the market for four consecutive years. From January to August this year, our A-shares and H-shares continued to rise by 17.9% and 23.9%, respectively. Our growth ranks first among joint stock commercial banks. The total market value of CITIC Bank stands at the level of CNY 460 billion.
We rank second in market cap among joint stock commercial banks. Behind those good numbers, I would say the main reason for that is our improved development capabilities and business philosophy. Our development demonstrates two distinctive features. First, sustainability. Second, safe development. First, for sustainable development, I would like to focus on three aspects. First, the net interest margin, NIM. That is about 1.62% for the half one. So 21 BP higher than the market average. For the CNY 9 trillion of interest-bearing assets, and for 21 BP higher, that means we can have additional CNY 19 billion revenue additionally in a year. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the NIM of our bank has reduced by 24 BP.
It has decreased by 24 BP less than the industry average, and NIM mainly benefits from the low cost of our liabilities with a liability cost ratio of 1.37%, down by 24 BP from the previous year. It also decreased by 92 BP compared to 2020, and our corporate deposit cost ratio has also expanded its advantage over the industry average to 20 BP. The proportion of our corporate deposit average balance remains among the top among the joint stock commercial banks.
Because you guys are the experts here, NIM of the banks is mainly benefiting from two aspects. Either it is from the high price loans or low cost liabilities. High price means high risk. That means the risk for the future is increased. Only by achieving low cost liabilities, the NIM attributable to the low cost liabilities is safe and sustainable. That is a core competitiveness of a bank and for us as well. Second aspect is our sustainable development. That is our light capital development or capital efficient development.
Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the proportion of the non-interest income has increased by 10.4% pps cumulatively. Non-interest income has grown positively for six consecutive years. In terms of the charges, fees, income, we ranked number two compared with our industry peers for the last six consecutive years. Our wealth management business has reached CNY 2.5 trillion , ranking second in the industry. The average yield of our fixed income products in the half one outperformed the market average by more than 20 BP. You can see the number and scale of our bond underwriting are firmly at the forefront of the entire market.
In terms of the investment trading income, our security investment business income in the half one increased by 9.3% YoY. Our bond and interest rate derivatives trading reached CNY 9.98 trillion , up by 65% YoY. In terms of our foreign exchange, market-making trading reached CNY 1.98 trillion , making us one of the first pilot programs in Shanghai Free Trade Zone for offshore CNY foreign exchange trading.
You can see the growth of the non-interest income is underpinned by the concept of the capital efficient development and wealth management, comprehensive financing, asset management, and investment trading, and also other capabilities of our company. The third aspect for the sustainable development is customer management. In half one, the number of our corporate basic customers has increased in a better way compared with the same period last year.
The increased number of our retail VIP customers also hits a record new in the past three years. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the number of the corporate basic customers and effective customers have increased by 130,000 and 153,000 respectively. You can see the increased level has achieved more than 80%. Our retail customers have also increased by 40%, and the high-net-worth and also VIP customers have reached a new level of 5 million.
The private bank clients have also increased from 51,000 to 105,000. It has been doubled. Increasing the number of clients and optimization of our client structure are the results of the CITIC Bank's insight into our clients' needs, and also enhancement of our comprehensive service capability. Second, I would like to come to the safe development. First of all, in terms of the risk indicators, we are improving continuously.
For seven consecutive years, our non-performing loan ratio has continued to decline, down by 0.62 percentage points in the last seven years, and also 0.12% percentage points lower than the average of the other peers. Our provision coverage ratio has also remained about 200%, so has been increased by 31 BP since the 14th Five-Year Plan. It is 29 BP higher than average of the peers.
Our credit cost ratio stood at 0.15% and also decreased by 0.59 percentage points since the 14th Five-Year Plan. You can see those indicators reflect the CITIC Bank's risk management ability in the concept. In terms of the risk philosophy or risk management, in the past years, CITIC Bank firmly believes that we need even forgo the returns rather than the risks. We pursue the risk-adjusted returns rather than the short-term gains at the cost of risk.
So you can see this risk management concept has been deeply rooted in our employees' hearts. In terms of the system capability, I also like to focus on three aspects. First, the risk system, we continue to optimize the small advancements, like each small step a year. It's After seven years of progress, we have accumulated that into significant growth. We implement the risk responsibility or accountability system, the appropriate approval and authorization system, and unify authorization system.
In terms of basic system development, we have also implemented systems such as full-time approvals and integrated reviewers. In terms of the credits, and inclusive in finance and financial market services, we have also embedded the risk management mechanism. In recent years, we continuously optimize the fraud prevention control systems and risk.
Third practice, we have also enhanced the risk control integrated system for the parent and also the sound companies, so subsidiaries. Another aspect is the structural changes we have made over the years. Asset structure defines the bank's future potential earnings and risks. This is very important for us. Over the years, we have built the five strategies plus one methodology system.
The five strategy plus one methodology focus on the credit policy approval standards and the marketing guidelines, and also resource allocation work. By implementing those methodologies and efforts, we achieved very good results and changes in asset structure. One is the regional change. In terms of the Yangtze River Delta region and also Pearl River Delta region in Tianjin , and also Chengdu and other regions in China, we have achieved a better proportion of incremental loans.
Also, we have fully tapping to the national strategy by focusing on more investments in three big areas and five scenarios. All those investments have given us exceeding a higher growth rate. The cross-border financing also grew by more than 30%, and capital market and lay financing grew by more than 12%. Also, we are adjusting some risky industries. For example, the real estate loans.
Our proportion for that was 17%, which was relatively high, but now has dropped to 8%. In terms of the risk of the local financing platform, we also have continued to converge that kind of risk. From the perspective of customers' products, you can see the proportion of corporate customers we support has reached 17%, sweet balance has been continuously improving.
In terms of the main assets of our retail business, especially the mortgages, the proportion of the mortgages in loans and loans has reached 60%. The third aspect is about strong management we have implemented over the years. There are also three aspects. First, we improved the risk control capability at the very source. Last year, we have implemented four category classification of our customers and proactive post-loan management.
That has been close our credit exposure by about CNY 46 billion. It has improved our capability of problem assets disposal and written-off assets disposal capability. Every year, we have a call back more than CNY 10 billion regarding non-performing loans every year. Last year, that's the highest year, we have closed the exposure by CNY 16.5 billion in terms of the non-performing loans.
The third aspect is the enhancement of the bank's digital risk control capabilities. We are implementing the new validation acceptance work according to some rules we have implemented. So we have come up with various measurement or validation tools. For example, the data management has been further improved in digital and has been digitalized. In terms of the future developments, we have our own thinking.
I like to come to two aspects, that we have a new strategy. Last year, we made the 15th Five-Year Plan. We call it three-three strategy. That is three excellence and three leadings. Three excellence means excellence in wealth management, bank management, and comprehensive financing bank management. Three leadings means we are leading in the professionalism, in the industrial model, and also industry standards.
Also the three leadings in the payment settlement bank and cross-border service bank, and also digitalized bank. Why we want to become top performer in the industry, there are two reasons for that. The three-three strategy focus on the current clients' changes in their needs, and also to tap into the new market opportunities. The excellent wealth management bank means that's an expansion beyond our traditional deposit taking and also outstanding comprehensive financing banking.
In terms of the leading payment settlement bank, that is the traditional fee and charges expansion based on the traditional banking services. Leading digitalized bank, that is to build a digital platform. That is also the core of our operation concept. Those three-three strategies are built upon our past experience and also the competitive edges we have built over the years.
From the four operational themes to the three enhancement actions, and also to the five leading and excellent strategies we are having now, they are helping us to build the most core competitiveness in the long-term asset. Our strategy, with latest strategy, has changed to some degree. Three-three and five-five strategies, the expansion of the 14th Five-Year Plan, we add additional strategy that is excellent trading investment bank.
That is one additional strategy. Why we have added this one? We can look at it from external and internal aspects. Externally, we've seen some new economies in the world, they are going through different economic cycles. There are different asset allocation requirements across different cycles and different markets, coupled with the geopolitical conflicts. For the clients, they have the hedging need and value preservation. Domestically, currently, it's in the cycle of the low interest rate.
For the bond investment, it can provide both the coupon payments and the capital gains, making it a profitable asset for banks. For the expansion of direct financing market as well as the investment banking and asset management banking business are becoming the trend. There is the growing importance of investment trading business. Thirdly, the internationalization of RMB and the pace of Chinese enterprises going global are accelerating.
Within the external and internal landscapes, now we have made the new strategy. Another reason is that for CITIC Bank, we have profound business capabilities and foundation. On one hand, we have the unique synergy to the CITIC Group. Our leaders and the managers already mentioned that. On the other hand, we have more than 30 years of expertise in this business, including the market-making business of exchange rates, interest rates, and precious metals.
We have a very rich market position and professional experience. In the following five years, this is our planning for the three-three strategy. In the following five years, yes, we have made the plan, and we will take actions in three areas. One is in the customer management. We will continue to enhance customer management vertically. We will continue to have a customer-oriented philosophy at all the departments, taking each customer as our partner for common growth. Horizontally, we will leverage the synergy advantage of CITIC Group, and we should consolidate the licenses of CITIC Group and the advantages of products, break down departmental barriers to meet the diverse needs of clients.
About the structural optimization, we will build a healthier balance sheet, including optimizing the liability structure, consolidating the advantage of the liability cost ratio, and a more proactive asset allocation, and active expansion of the sources of intermediary business income. We need to improve asset quality, rebuild allocation of major asset classes, and we need to build and enhance our system and capabilities.
First, we need to continue reform and optimize the organization to improve operational efficiency. Second, we need to improve our digital capabilities, including the capabilities to make decisions based on data. In the past years, CITIC Bank has achieved a steady and resilient growth. In the following five years, we have a very clear direction, and we have the promising growth. We have the confidence in high-quality development. Thank you.
Thank you, President Hu, for the detailed answer. Now, number five question.
Thank you for this opportunity. I am the analyst, Shui Kang from Huachuang Securities. First, congratulations to the remarkable achievements for half one at CITIC Limited. The revenue and the net profit have exceeded the expectations of investors and analysts. I still remember when I was writing the in-depth report on CITIC Limited this year, we coordinated analysts from multiple industries, including banks, non-banks, steel, and non-ferrous metals to work together on it.
From today's presentation, we really see the performance exceeded our expectations significantly. Through today's event, we feel the company's emphasis on investor relations and market value management. I have two questions. The first half, that was due to performance in securities. My first question is about the overall strategy. We see that the industry development is shifting towards quality-driven development.
Also, the regulation or the authorities are guiding the two-way opening up to the outside world. There is the competition from the first-class investment banks, both at home and abroad. How do we respond to that? The second question is about the overseas business. Half one was remarkable. CITIC Financial Holdings completed the additional investment of CNY 16 billion in CITIC Securities. What will be the strategy to leverage the advantages?
We have the General Manager, Zou Yingguang, from the CITIC Securities.
Thank you for the question. At present, we have completed the extra share private placement. I want to take the opportunity to share some of our views. In the 15th Five-Year Plan period, from the guideline, we see there is the acceleration of building China into a financial power. This released a clear policy signal. The authorities support leading the high-quality institutions to grow stronger and larger, transforming from competition in quantity to competition in quality.
In the first half this year, our operating revenues and net profit have reached new historical highs. At the same time, the core competitiveness, market leadership, and risk resistance have continued to strengthen. From the perspective of building a first-class investment bank, the domestic industry is accelerating its contract concentration capabilities of resources, business, and clients.
Within the gradual acceleration of internationalization process, we are continuously enriching our global network, clients, and product system. CITIC Securities will remain steadfast and stay committed to the goal of building a financial power, maintaining strategic focus through three core measures of improving quality and efficiency, strengthening competition, and expanding internationally. First, improve quality and efficiency.
We will deepen the role of functions and enhance the service capabilities. We will adhere to the deep integration of functionality and client service. We will build an integrated comprehensive service system and consolidate the client base within the services throughout the life cycle. Second, strengthen competition. We will optimize the business structure for light and heavy capital and comprehensively enhance the core competitiveness.
We will promote the coordinated development of all the business lines, balance the light capital and heavy capital business, and optimize resource allocation. Number three, we will expand internationally. We will deepen the global layout and promote internationalization strategy, taking Hong Kong as the springboard and through a three-step strategy. We will gradually deploy the Asia Pacific hub, expand the global network, enrich the business forms in overseas markets, and we will actively serve the global customers, especially Chinese capital going global and foreign capital coming in.
Regarding the capital or the private placement, since the end of May, we initiated it, and after more than 70 days, we efficiently completed the issuance and settlement. The first batch of CNY 10 billion equivalent of Hong Kong dollars completed the capital increase on August the 14th. CITIC Limited fully subscribed and CITIC Securities H shares fixed increase promised that within 48 months, it will not transfer, which fully reflects the Group CITIC Limited's long-term confidence and firm support for the development of CITIC Securities. This also is for strengthening strategic synergy, achieving high-quality development, and this program has three important strategic significance.
One is to solidify the international capital foundation, promote the strategy to go deeper and further, and all the raised funds will be used for the company's international business development and respond to or cope with the competition from large international investment banks. Secondly, it will help to enhance the profitability and long-term capital returns. Since 2024, the international business has seen faster revenue growth and profitability than domestic business. In half one this year, the contribution of the international business revenue has increased to 23.7%. This program of capital increase will further stimulate the development potential of the international business.
Thirdly, it will enhance global competitiveness and resource allocation. It will strengthen the company's competitiveness in the global capital market and its ability to allocate the global resources and better play the role of a bridge and a link connecting the capital markets at home and abroad. In recent years, CITIC Securities has unswervingly implemented the International Development strategy, increased the resource investment and the capacity building.
In the future, we will take this capital increase as an opportunity, actively integrate into the high level two-way opening up of the capital markets, and do a solid job in organizational structure to be the first choice investment bank for China and abroad. First, we will consolidate the global capital base, enhance the capital strength and the risk resistance ability of international business, and empower the ability of global capital allocation.
Second, we will improve the global diversified business network with establishment of branches in Middle East, Frankfurt, Germany, and we will enrich business layout in Asia-Pacific, European, and American markets. Third, we will improve the global comprehensive service ecosystem, improve the domestic and foreign platforms, build cross-market business coverage capabilities, and expand business varieties. Okay, that's my answer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yingg uang. Next, the number six question.
Thank you for this opportunity. I'm the analyst, Huang Xi from the China International Finance Corporation Securities. The first question is about internationalization. What is the highlight and achievement of internationalization in half of one? Then in future, what's in the outlook or what's in the overall planning and the priority for internationalization? The second question is that currently, China has the strategy of the science and the technology self-reliance and industrial upgrading. So what will be the development opportunities for the company, and what will be the core high-end products to be very competitive as in the alternatives of the foreign products?
Okay. Thank you for your question. Thank you very much for your support to the CITIC Special Steel. You are quite professional by raising this question. In half one this year, we have been committed to internationalization and the transformation towards high-end products. These are the two important strategies which were fully implemented in half one. On one hand, we have the layout of overseas industries and markets, which has been fully implemented and has made new progress.
This expands our overseas business. On the other hand, we seize the opportunities abroad by domestic industrial upgrading, structural adjustment, and high-end product development, and seize new opportunities. The overall business quality and technology innovation capabilities have achieved a stable improvement. In terms of internationalization, this year is the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. We already have a very comprehensive plan for this period, including the upgrading of the corporate culture, including the adjustment to our vision and mission. Our mission is to provide green and smart special steel for human civilization in accordance with the current requirements. We have established the characteristics of green and smart development.
Our vision used to be to become the most competitive special steel enterprise group in the world. It has now been changed to becoming a globally respected leading special steel enterprise. We have made some adjustments for the international layout. Since the beginning of this year, we have been comprehensively implementing the strategy, and we have achieved some success.
In Europe, we have established the innovation and R&D center. Also, we jointly established a joint laboratory with the global leading company, Schlumberger. It is a joint laboratory for low-carbon new materials, which has built an innovative system of cross-border collaborative industry university research linkage. At the same time, in Europe, we also have laid out a high-end material processing base in Europe, and CITIC Pacific Special Steel supplies the high-end billets in China.
The reason we want to have a Europe base is because of the high energy cost and also labor cost. Usually other ordinary companies cannot do that. But we can do that. That is our strategic industry layout. In other aspects, probably you already learned about that. Last year, we signed the British Stemcor . That is one of the world's three largest traders. We implemented these shares swap on August 24th that year.
In half one, in terms of the R&D, we have established the European Innovation Technology R&D Center in Europe, and also the joint laboratory. Second is the channel stage development. Our trading company is 100% controlled by us. China's, our steel exports can be more facilitated due to that kind of arrangement. The third one is the processing base in Europe, that is related to industrial layout.
In terms of the steel investment, we have some potential projects we are studying closely. It will probably enhance our industrial layout for the next step. In terms of the international development, if we want to become a respected steel company globally, we still need to have more internationalization level. That is why we will increase our international efforts. In terms of the business data, I would like to talk about our half one foreign trade export. That is about 1.2 million tons, 7% increase YoY. Our foreign trade operating income was CNY 6.5 billion. Next step, we will continue to pay attention to the finding value of the trading company platform, Stemcor , as I mentioned earlier.
Also adhere to the top level thinking of the whole industry going overseas and implementing this as a step-by-step, have better strategic layout by going global at the grassroots level. We are going to continue to integrate and upgrade the global marketing network, make up for our shortcomings in the global application resources, and finally, to achieve the going global with our products to the going global of our brands and those technologies.
That is the internationalization on different levels and aspects. We want to build the sales branches in all different kinds of regions around the world. With that kind of a platform company we have signed earlier, I believe it will facilitate our going global efforts. In terms of the domestic market, I think high-end products should have a promising market. Global technology revolution is accelerating.
China is striving to achieve high level self-reliance in science and technology, and it is upgrading its different kind of industries, including the steel industry. From the domestic perspectives, we also focus on different energy markets. For example, we know some emerging industries like nuclear energy, wind energy, high-end equipment sectors are still in the high boom development period. That also drives the demand for high-end special steel and also special materials.
Those are the opportunities for further capture. In terms of the opportunities we are seeing, we will seize the trend, ride with the trend, and focus on the high-end special steel as our main business and overcome the difficulties and core technology barriers in different aspects. We actually have built successfully the high-tech barrier, high added value, and high market adaptable and high-end product matrix or portfolio. That is our eight best-in-class portfolios.
It can satisfy the domestic company's requirements, but also the overseas requirements. That kind of structural advantage has continued to be released. We have firmly captured the advantages in this differentiated market sector. I think if you follow us closely, you probably know what I am going to say very well. In the half one, you can see the growth drivers for our high-end products is very strong.
For example, the high-end bearing cells up by 16.1% YoY. The automotive purpose to steel cells increased by 14.7%, and specialized small giant related steel cells also up by 23.2%. Why we call it Little Giant? Because that is our niche market. We are the number one in this niche market. We have occupied more than 50% of the market share. You can see, we have achieved a 23.2% of growth in this Little Giant sector.
You can see, those are the emerging opportunities that we have obtained. The total sales has been increased by 48.6%. Also, the specific products have increased by 50% in terms of the sales volume, especially the high temperature alloy, high strength steel, and the specialty stainless steel. All increased by 55% in total. You can see, those high-end product transformation has brought in many more opportunities, so we can open up more or capture more growth momentum in the future.
In the future, we are going to continuously making progress. For example, the aerospace steel is widely used in aerospace industry. The bearings we make for that aerospace engines have been very successful. For example, we have exported that very successfully. For example, to the Safran or also the GE in Canada, and also the Collins Aerospace, and also many other aerospace companies.
By leveraging our technical advantage and top-tier certifications that we have obtained, we will continue to expand on the application in aviation and also aerospace area. Second is the high-end equipment steel that has also been very popular in some technology industry. For example, we have overcome the barriers of some technology in this area, so it can be widely adopted and used in China without importing from other countries.
That will also be our strong growth driver in the future. Third is the energy-purposed steel, for example, for wind power, nuclear power, and oil gas industry. Those special steel demand has been very strong. We have enjoyed very stable growth in the energy-related industry. One of our old products has enjoyed 15-year growth in expanding the market share. We are also the only Chinese companies that can export this type of product to Europe. We capture about 12% of the European bearing steel market.
You can see, we have seized the opportunity to build our technology moat and also we continue to innovate. Relying on the European base we have established and also the joint laboratory for developing new materials, we have built a platform that links domestic and international needs, and also we have integrated resources from different industries and continue. Also, we come up with a new innovation system so as to overcome the technological barriers in these different sectors of steel. Also, innovation requires high-quality talent. In the half one, our scientific and technology achievements have been abundant.
For example, we have innovated products and produced 1.4 million tons of new products, especially 2.75 million tons of them are high-end products. Also obtained 263 licenses, and 70 of them are invention license. Also six technological awards from provincial and above levels. Also, we have spearheaded six national standard drafting work, and also one international common standard drafting work, and also obtained many other awards.
For example, in neither international invention award, development award and things like that. For the next step, we will continue to destock and also compete with structural advantage. Also eliminate unnecessary business and optimize our business structure. We will always follow closely of the national strategy needs and also adhere to the self-reliance in our corporate development.
By focusing on the high-end precision autonomy nature of development, we will continue to improve the international R&D and innovative efforts, forge technologies, forging top scientific research talent, and make every effort to tackle core technologies in the industry. This is a very rare opportunity for us to communicate here. Lastly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the guests and media friends and investors for their long-term support and trust. Thank you very much. In the future, let's communicate more and also empower the development. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Gang, for your response. In the interest of the time, I would like to ask the last question from the floor.
Okay. Thank you, management, for the opportunity. I am a researcher from Huitianfu Fund. First of all, congratulations to your interim results. Very wonderful. Also, we see the share price increase. Okay, my question is for CITIC Metal. I have three questions. In the half one, CITIC Metal performance has almost reached the level of the whole year last year. What are the drivers behind for such wonderful result? Second, when you are expanding the business in mining and also commodities, what are the latest advancement or development? The last question is, what is your international layout for business going forward?
Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your questions. Good afternoon, everyone. Three days ago, CITIC Metal was listed as one of the first company to get listed in here. Sorry, that is three years ago. Since three years ago, we have enjoyed faster growth. We have also enjoyed very fast growth regarding some key projects and key businesses. We will continue to tap into that.
The momentum of growth in half one, our total profit has almost reached the level of the 2025 whole year. Of course, we have to seize this market opportunities and some other reasons. In terms of the half one, the operating revenue reached CNY 86 billion, and the net profits attributable to the shareholders achieved also a very high level. For example, it reached CNY 2.6 billion with a YoY increase of 85%.
First of all, I would like to talk about the main business of mining investment and also the commodity business and its progress. In terms of mining investment, we will continue to enhance or strengthen the post-investment management of our projects. The investment earnings for revenue has contributed greatly to the overall improvement of our profitability. Globally, we have allocated three projects. In Peru, our mineral investment project is the Las Bambas mine.
In half one , the production went very well and steadily. Meanwhile, it has quite a high level of the grade, and it has the improvement in the processing volume of ore dressing. In half one , Las Bambas produced 210,000 tons of copper ore, and the put in half one for this year is basically the same as that of the whole year of last year. The output of copper in the second quarter was 109,000 tons, with a month-on-month growth of 8%.
This has driven the continuous improvement of the overall profit, and this has brought a nearly doubling of the contribution to the equity profit. The second project is the Iron Ore Mines, which has three projects in Africa. For the copper mines, it is the KK copper mine. In half one, it produced 136,000 tons of cathode copper, blister copper, and also sellable selected ore.
The new mine in Kipushi set a new record for the output of new mines in second quarter. The output reached 70,000 tons, and a total of 135,000 tons of gold in the first half. The Platreef is a platinum metal polymetallic mine. In half one, it steadily promoted the climbing of the first phase production capacity and the progress of the second phase construction. The third project is in Brazil.
It is the CBMM, and it is the world's largest and the most competitively fee of mine. This production itself also increased in half one. For the commodity trade, we actively seize the structural opportunities in the market and optimize the market layout, product mix, and business model. About the copper business, we focus on strengthening market research and judgment, optimize resource organization, and flexibly follow the pace of production themselves.
We made every effort to promote the collaborative efficiency of a variety trade across the entire industrial chain. You may know that our copper trade covers the copper ore in the upstream, blister copper in the midstream, electrolytic copper in the finished product, and recycled copper. In terms of the niobium business, we deepen strategic cooperation with the Brazilian mining companies, and steel is our traditional core market.
We further consolidate advantages in the area. In emerging markets, especially in the high-temperature alloys and optical glass markets, we have achieved positive results. China's demand continues to grow. In half one, the company still maintained over 80% of the market share in China. Overall sales have reached a new high, and our leading position in the industry has been consolidated. In the aluminum business, we seized the market opportunity to have the bauxite to alumina to electrolytic aluminum.
We have the whole chain. On basis of consolidating the domestic market, we accelerate expansion of the re-export trade model at home and abroad. The second question is about the driving force for the future growth. We believe that the major growth driver is our thousands years of expertise in investment in business, trade business, technology innovation, risk mitigation, talent echelon. Due to time constraints today, I will only focus on three areas. For example, mineral investment and commodity trade and technology innovation. The first one is the investment in the scales minerals. This is one of our future development drivers.
For the portfolio of industry and scarce mineral resources, we have a prominent advantage. We have the overall resource allocation striking a balance between strategic security and economic returns. Our highlight is, the company is strongly insisting on direct investment in the upstream. We already showed you the three projects introduced, which have the high market recognition worldwide.
They are scarce and valuable, and they have a great growth potential as the core driving force for future development. On the other hand, in the middle and the lower streams of the industrial chain, we also have the deployment. We have the broad market influence and a strong business synergy. We believe that rational resource allocation is one of the cornerstones for our long-term competitiveness. Number two, we have the philosophy towards commodity trading, that is the Trade Plus.
With the Trade Plus model, we create value and build differentiated advantage in terms of upstream resources through the world-class mines. We have obtained some offtake and distribution rights in the third-party market. We strengthen in-depth cooperation with leading mines, enhancing our resource acquisition and guarantee capabilities. About the downstream market, we continue to expand the global service network.
In terms of business cooperation, we reach out to the core clients in the ferrous and non-ferrous metal sectors, and we help customers to maximize their success. That is also the foundation for our own success. Number three, we believe technology innovation will empower our growth. Technology innovation is one important DNA of CITIC's development. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we have elevated technology innovation to a crucial part of the corporate strategy.
Over the past three decades, in the niobium business, we have successfully promoted it to China's steel industry and many new material fields. Now we are working on the nanocrystal material, aerospace material, superconducting material, battery material, and optical glass, and other advanced materials. We are also committed to building a more open and collaborative innovation system, focusing on the research institute of advanced materials for communication technology with the mode of independent innovation and joint R&D.
Your third question is about the overseas business deployment in the future. I would like to give you a briefing. In the future, in terms of overseas business, we will continue to center around our principal business. We will continue to deepen the layout of global resources and accelerate the new pattern of international business. In terms of global resource layout, our goal is to continuously consolidate the base with long-term competitiveness.
So we will continue to improve our investment research and development capability. In terms of the project, we will center around the new quality productive forces, and we will continue the work in the varieties of copper and aluminum. We will focus on the projects in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and other key regions to deepen our research capability and broaden sources of high-quality projects.
In terms of building capabilities in international trade, we have set a goal to improve resource acquisition capabilities, enhance channel expansion and differentiation, and refine customer service capabilities and use the Trade Plus model to build differentiated advantages. Specifically, we will leverage our company in Singapore to expand to the market and opportunities in Southeast Asia.
In Africa, we also will have a pivot of the Tanzanian company to strengthen the exploration of the African region. For the overseas market layout, the first is the commodity trade, the place of resource acquisition. The second is the world's major consumer market. The third is the center of global traders. We will center around these three to seize opportunities. About technology innovation, we also have the consideration overseas.
For example, leveraging global resources and strengths to empower business development to provide technical support and innovation momentum for business development. Huawei once mentioned a philosophy of absorbing the energy of the universe. I also mentioned earlier, our technology innovation must absorb high-quality global research forces and uphold the concept of open cooperation, the joint R&D, and also the joint promotion.
That is the model we would like to approach. This is my answer to your three questions. Again, on behalf of CITIC Metal, to all these investors and the experts, analysts, and media friends who have been supporting us, I want to say thank you. We hope you will continue to support us. Thank you very much.
Yes, we are already 10 minutes later than scheduled. Please understand that. We have addressed your questions one by one. At the new starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, CITIC has a clear strategy and a stronger comprehensive financial strength. Our subsidiaries deliver steady distinctive performance. China CITIC Bank sees a stabilizing and rising net interest margin with the NPL ratio down for seven consecutive years, driving better results and market value. CITIC Securities hits record revenue and net profit, advancing towards a world-class investment bank.
CITIC Special Steel completes the Stemcor equity closing and launches its European Center for Innovation and Globalization. CITIC Metal maintains China's top market share in niobium products, leveraging its dual driver model of trading and investment. CITIC analysts once noted in a research report that CITIC holds many hidden gems as the revitalized champion explore initiatives move forward. We believe more impressive hidden gems will be uncovered across CITIC's diversified businesses.
Through years of practice, we have a deepened understanding of the nature and the rules of market value management. We would like to share our insights with you today. First, CITIC Limited embarked on market value management at an early stage, unlocking corporate value through value-driven reforms. Back at the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, CITIC elevated market value management to a strategic priority.
It rolled out the phase one reform and built a full-fledged methodology, which has been continuously refined ever since. In the late period of the 14th Five-Year Plan, we pushed ahead with the phase two market value management reforms, focusing on three key measures: launching the first shareholder return plan, rolling out voluntary share purchases by senior and mid-level management at their own expense, and implementing market value-based assessment across all the listed subsidiaries.
HSBC analysts described the three reforms as a watershed of CITIC Limited's valuation upgrade. On the widely watched dividend issue, the board and the senior management have delivered more than they promised. Despite various challenge, we maintain a long-term stable and predictable dividend policy. In 2024, the company unveiled a three-year shareholder return plan, which comes to an end this year. At the CITIC Group's support meeting held last week, Chairman Shi clearly stated that, now we have started to work on a new shareholder return plan covering the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Chinese perspective market. Capital market theory, stock price performance determined by various factors such as fundamentals, policies, capital conditions. The better can be encountered but not pursued, while alpha can be obtained through striving to be the best. In recent years, amidst the complex and changing environment, we have not only brought better returns to investors but also created tangible alpha returns.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan, despite the Hang Seng Index falling by 5.88%, CITIC Limited stock price bucked the trend and rose by 209%, with its market capitalization increasing by over HKD 190 billion, achieving its first five-year consecutive increase since the year of overall listing. Today's stock price is also very quite good. In terms of the morning closing price, the share price has reached, in total, HKD 13.8 billion.
So up 19.1% from the beginning of the year, reaching a record high in the past decade. The past years, actually our practice over the past few years has proven that there is a difference between doing and not doing a market capitalization management. Second, CITIC has always been humble in learning, understanding, applying the laws of capital market, also integrating them with the company development logic.
There is no unified and authoritative standardized textbook for market value management, but we adhere to the principle of value creation as the foundation, value transmission as medium, and always respect and learn from and apply the laws of the capital market by focusing on speaking instead of listening. We promote a close alignment between business logic and capital market valuation logic. First of all, speaking means we are telling the CITIC story well.
We focus on improving the coordination and linkage of performance announcement between parent and subsidiary companies. Starting this year, interim results, the timing of the regular performance approach Performance briefings for CITIC's listed companies have been generally advanced, forming a coordinated flying V model. The content of the interim performance announcement and semi-annual report have also been specifically improved, enriched, optimized, focusing on the three-three-five strategy.
Presenting companies operating results in the half one of the year from the aspects of the financial quality improvement and industrial revitalization, amongst many other aspects. Recent years, we have been going out more frequently to communicate face-to-face with investors and the analysts, striving to clearly explain the synergistic advantages of a comprehensive company. This is also particularly important for a comprehensive company like CITIC. Secondly, listening also is very important to us.
We have established a mechanism to continuously sort out and summarize the opinions, the suggestions collected from virtual exchanges in a timely manner, forming special act reports to submit to the company's board of directors and senior management. The demands and suggestion, the needs from the capital market are fully absorbed into the company's internal governance and business management decisions, and the laws and rules of the capital market and the company's business logic are well integrated.
At the same time, the positive feedback from the company's board of directors and management on the voice of the capital market is also a valuable incentive for investors and analysts. Market trust is built and accumulated bit by bit through such honest exchanges. Third, we have gained a deeper understanding, a clearer view during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
We are fully committed to leading value evaluations with strategic reshaping. In early stage, the current price-to-book ratio is only slightly over 0.4 x, indicating a clear value gap. The diversification discount in the capital market is a challenge we cannot avoid, but it doesn't mean there's no way to overcome it. The strategic shareholders of the company and Itochu of Japan, is also a comprehensive enterprise, but the market value performance has exceptionally excellent in recent years.
We also are building a very clear map and view to do the right things. Only by building a better management, we can characterize by good leading system, then it can guide us to do the right thing with clearer strategies. I believe the value of our company will be re-emphasized by many more investors and analysts. I believe the value return is still ongoing, and I believe there are many more arduous work we need to push forward together with every other stakeholder. I would really like to thank all of you for your enthusiastic questions. The on-site Q&A session for this interim results announcement is now concluded. Next, we will answer to all the online questions through the written format. Thank you.