Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to all our viewers online. Today, VTech Holdings Limited is announcing its results for the six months ended the 30th of September 2013. For your reference, the webcast of this announcement, accompanied by the presentation you will see shortly, will be available on VTech's website starting at 10:30 P.M. this evening, Hong Kong time. Here to present the results, on my left are King Pang, Executive Director and Group President, Mr. Wong, Chairman and Group CEO, Mr. Andy Leung, Executive Director and CEO of Contract Manufacturing Services, Ms. Shereen Tong, Group Chief Financial Officer. First of all, Ms. Tong will present the group's financial performance. Next, Mr. Pang will review the group's operations. Mr. Wong will then talk about the growth drivers and give his outlook for the second half of this financial year.
We will finish our presentation with a Q&A session. Now may I invite Ms. Tong to open today's presentation. Ms. Tong, please.
Thank you, Grace. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and all viewers online. First of all, I would like to share with you the financial highlights of the group for the six months ended 30 of September 2013, compared with the same period of the last year. As you see from the slide, the revenue of the group rose by 1.9% to $892.4 million. The increase in revenue was driven by the higher sales in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, which offset a decrease in revenue in other regions. Our gross profit rose by 6.1% to $282.5 million, and our gross profit margin also improved from 30.4% to 31.7%. The decline in material cost largely offset the higher labor cost and manufacturing overheads arising from the increase in wages and production capacities, as well as the renminbi appreciation during the first half of the financial year 2014.
Our operating profit rose by 6.1% to $105 million, and our operating profit margin also increased from 11.3% to 11.8%. The improvement in both operating profit and operating profit margin was mainly due to the increase in gross profit and gross profit margin, which offset the increased spending on the group's advertising and promotional activities and the higher employee-related costs compared with the same period of the last year. Our profit attributable to shareholders rose by 4.7% to $95.2 million, and our net profit margin also increased from 10.4% to 10.7%. As a result, our basic earning per share rose by 4.4% to $0.38 , and our board of directors has declared an interim dividend per share of $0.16 , which is the same as the last financial year. Turning to the revenue by region.
North America remained the largest market of the group, accounting for 51.1% of the group's revenue. Our revenue in North America rose by 3.8% to $455.8 million. The increase in revenue was mainly due to the higher sales of our telecom and electronic learning products, while our Contract Manufacturing Services revenue held steady in the region. As for European market, our revenue rose by 0.2% to $352.7 million. The higher sales of our electronic learning products and Contract Manufacturing Services had offset a decrease in revenue of our telecom products compared with the same period last year. Our revenue in Asia Pacific region rose by 3.3% to $52.7 million. The increase in revenue was driven by the higher sales of all our three product lines in the first half of the financial year. Other regions include Latin America, Middle East, and Africa.
Our sales in other regions reduced by 8.5% to $31.2 million. The decrease in revenue in other regions was mainly due to decline in sales of our electronic learning products, which offset the increase in revenue of our telecom products compared with the same period of the last year. Our stock balance as at 30th of September 2013 increased from $340 million to $399.3 million over the same period of the last year. Our stock turnover days also increased from 111 days to 126 days. The increase in stock level was mainly to cater for the increased demand of the group's product in the second half of the current financial year and the seasonality of most of the group's business. We have also arranged early production of the group's product in order to better utilize the group's production capacities.
Our trade debtors balance as at 30th of September 2013 increased from $377.3 million to $380.2 million. However, our trade debtors turnover days reduced from 61 days to 59 days. The increase in trade debtors balance was mainly due to the growth in revenue in the first half of the financial year compared with the same period of the last year. Our financial positions remain very strong. We were debt-free, and our net cash balance as at 30th of September 2013 was $94.7 million. That's all of my presentation. I will now invite Mr. Pang to share with you our operation review. Mr. Pang, please.
Thank you, Shereen. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, as well as viewers online. I will now take you through a review of our operations during the first six months of this financial year, before passing to Mr. Wong, who will give us an update on how we have been executing on our growth strategy, as well as his outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year. As you have heard, in the first half of the financial year, our gross margin has improved. Cost-wise, labor cost and manufacturing overhead in China continued to rise as the minimum wage increased, as well as RMB appreciation continued. As we have heard from Shereen, this was counterbalanced by lower cost of raw material, as well as the positive impacts from our continued effort in product optimization. I will now take you through the regions. First, North America.
Revenue increased by 3.8% to $455.8 million. North America continues to represent the largest market of group, contributing 51.1% of group revenue. Higher revenue in this region from telecommunications products and electronic learning products are being recorded, while Contract Manufacturing Services revenue held steady. Telecommunications products revenue rose by 2.1% to $201.5 million. I am glad to report that we continue to be able to maintain our number one position as a cordless phone manufacturer in the U.S. During this period, sales of residential phones has increased, and we have benefited from further consolidation of the market. Augmenting increases in our residential phone is our non-residential phone products, which include phones for small and medium businesses, hotel phones, and baby monitors. During this period, we have made good inroads in our two main SMB telephone products, Synapse and Jay.
We have also increased our business in the hotel phone area, where we have gained further acceptance from premier international hotel chains around the world. We have also shipped more baby monitors as we have increased our distribution channel. Electronic learning products. ELP revenue in North America increased by 8.5% to $157.8 million. This increase was broad-based and is driven by higher sales of both standalone and platform products. In standalone products, in addition to our core infant and preschool learning categories, the two new product families, Go! Go! Smart Wheels and Switch & Go Dinos, have been particularly strong, and they have contributed significantly to this growth. On platform products, we have launched the third generation of our children's education tablet product, the InnoTab 3 and 3S. Both products hit retailer shelves in the U.S. in summer, in June and July respectively.
The increase in sales in InnoTab has more than balanced lower sales in MobiGo 2, our handheld gaming console, as well as V.Reader, our electronic reading product. In Contract Manufacturing Services, revenue increased by 0.3% to $96.5 million. Growth in CMS came from professional audio, home appliances, communication, and wireless products. This offset declines in solid-state lighting and industrial products. This year, we have gained one more customer in professional audio in North America, as well as in wireless products, we have seen larger shipment of our customers in the North American market. Turning now to Europe. Group's revenue in Europe was up by 0.2% to $352.7 million. Europe represents 39.5% of the group's revenue. In this region, higher revenues from electronic learning products and CMS offset lower revenue from telecommunications products. Telecommunications revenue decreased by 25.3% to $79.2 million.
This decrease was caused by a combination of market weakness, as well as management's conscious decision to focus on higher-margin businesses. This results in lower sales in cordless telephone product sales. However, sales of baby monitors and connected home devices continue to grow in this region. Electronic learning products revenue was up by 10.3% to $141.5 million. As in the U.S., this growth was broad-based, led both by platform products as well as boxed products. In platform products, the engine was, again, education tablets, where in the U.K. we have also introduced the third generation of InnoTab 3 and 3S, during summer. Whereas for the remainder of our Western European markets, second generation, Storio 2, continued to be sold. In boxed products, Toot-Toot Drivers, which is the European name for Go! Go! Smart Wheels in the U.S., as well as Switch & Go!
Dinos, were again the engine for driving growth in boxed products in Europe. Geographically, we have seen growth in France, especially Germany, Spain, and the Benelux countries. Whereas for this particular period, our shipment in the U.S. was lower than last year. Contract Manufacturing Services revenue rose by 12.1% to $132 million. This sales increase was driven by professional audio equipment, wireless headsets, and home appliances. In professional audio equipment, we benefited from new product launch of customer. Whereas in Germany, we have also signed up a new customer for professional audio. In wireless headsets, sell-through of our customer's products continued to be strong in the market, and in addition, we were able to gain business at the expense of our competition. In the area of home appliances, we have added a new customer in Italy.
In contrast, we recorded lower sales for switching mode power supplies, which is due to lower sales of solar power inverters. Asia Pacific. Group's revenue increased by 3.3% to $52.7 million. This region represents 5.9% of group's revenue. In this region, telecommunications revenue was up by 2.7% to $19.2 million. This growth mainly came from Australia and China. We have increased in sales in both cordless telephone products as well as integrated access devices. Our sales in Japan was lower than the same period last year, mainly due to the market returning back to a more normal level after last year's burst of rebuilding after the recovery from the 2011 earthquake. For Electronic Learning Products, revenue in Asia Pacific grew by 6.3% to $11.9 million. This growth is primarily driven by increased in sales in China.
But in this region, we have recorded lower sales in Australia during this period, which is primarily due to a soft first half year for the toy market in Australia. Contract Manufacturing Services revenue increased by 2.4% to $21.6 million. Sales of marine radio and medical health products were higher, offsetting lower sales in solid-state lighting products. During this period, we also started shipping the first item for our new product category, testing and manufacturing equipment, to a Japanese customer. Finally, other regions. Other regions for us include Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Revenue for other regions declined by 8.5% to $31.2 million, and this region represents 3.5% of group's revenue. Telecommunication products revenue increased by 3.6% to $20.2 million. This growth was primarily driven by increase in sales in Latin America, and this offsets declines in Middle East and Africa.
For Electronic Learning Products, revenue decreased by 25.9% to $10.6 million. This drop was mainly due to lower sales in Latin America and the Middle East. For Contract Manufacturing Services, revenue for this period was $0.4 million as compared to $0.3 million in the same period last year. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes my report. I would like to invite Mr. Wong to come and give us an update on the execution of our strategy and to share his outlook. Allan.
Thank you, King. VTech's growth strategy is built on four pillars of product innovation, gains in market share, geographic expansion, and operational excellence. Product innovation remains a key to our success, and we launched two new groundbreaking products during the first six months of this financial year. In telephone products, we shipped the world's first home entrance monitoring system, which combines a versatile cordless phone with a digital video doorbell. The product has been very well received by our customers. In ELPs, we once again set the industrial standard by the introduction of VTech Kid Connect, a groundbreaking communication app exclusive to the InnoTab 3S. The app gives preschoolers as young as three years old the ability to communicate with their parents and older siblings by exchanging voice messages, text messages, stickers, photo, and drawings, all within a kid-safe, kid-friendly environment.
Through these innovative features, children can communicate with their parents' smartphones and tablets, as well as with friends and siblings anywhere in the world who also have an InnoTab 3S. We have also updated our InnoTab range with the InnoTab 3 and 3S. We are also working on several new product areas, including our first wireless conferencing system, SIP terminal, SIP-based commercial phones, and connected home devices. They will be launched globally in the second half of this financial year. Looking at market share, we remain the world's number one manufacturer of cordless phone and the largest supplier of ELPs from infancy to preschool in the U.S. and Western Europe. Geographically, Asia Pacific and other regions accounted for 9.4% of group sales. We saw good growth in China for both telephone products and ELPs.
CMS has brought in a new product category, which is testing and manufacturing equipments from Japan. Regarding operations, we continue to manage costs closely in accordance with our business conditions. In the first half, SG&A, as percentage of group revenue, increased slightly due to higher advertising and promotion expenses, as well as employee-related costs. I will now give my outlook for the second half of the financial year. The operating environment in our major markets is likely to remain challenging for the remainder of the financial year. In the U.S., the pace of recovery appears to be slowing, while many European economies face conditions that are still tough and uncertain.
Nonetheless, we are optimistic of achieving top-line growth with improved gross profit margin for the full financial year 2014. Although we expect labor costs and manufacturing overheads to rise further, these will be offset by lower cost of materials, resulting in gross margin improvement year-on-year. We are, however, planning for higher advertising and promotional expenses in the second half in order to maintain sales in a competitive environment. Sales of telephone products are expected to pick up in the second half. Our residential phone businesses in Europe and other regions are improving. Continued growth is expected in North America and Asia Pacific, driven by further market share gains and new product launches. Our non-residential phone business will continue to expand, driven by a number of significant new product launches globally in the second half of the financial year.
These include VTech's first wireless conferencing system, a SIP terminal, SIP-based commercial phones, new models of baby monitors, and connected home devices. The positive momentum in ELPs is expected to carry into the second half. It will be driven by the good sell-through of our standalone products, especially Go! Go! Smart Wheels and Switch & Go Dinos. Sales of platform products are expected to hold steady. In light of keen competition in the children's tablet market in the U.S. and the U.K., aggressive advertising and promotions have been planned for the holiday season. CMS is expected to see growth in the second half of the financial year. The sales increase will be driven by more orders from existing customers in professional audio equipment and wireless headsets. Additional business from new customers in both existing and new product categories will also support growth.
In conclusion, we have made a solid start to the financial year 2014 and look set to continue on a growth path in the second half of the financial year. Even though the operating environment in our key markets remain challenging, VTech will continue to leverage its strength in product innovation, strong balance sheet, market leadership, and operational excellence to bring sustainable return to shareholders.