China Unicom tumbles 8% as H1 profit sinks 35%, interim dividend scrapped

China United Network Communications (762.HK) tumbled 8% during Hong Kong trading to HK$5.725 on Wednesday.

The Chinese telecom reported first-half revenue of 201.36 billion yuan, up just 0.6% year on year, while net profit attributable to shareholders dropped 34.8% to 4.14 billion yuan. Total profit fell 36.6% to 11.2 billion yuan. The company scrapped its 2026 interim dividend for the first time since 2021.

The earnings decline was driven by changes in value-added tax and labor-cost allocation, though management expects the full-year profit contraction to narrow significantly.

In computing power services, revenue grew 13% to 41.9 billion yuan, with computing-power investment rising over 80% year on year to account for 37% of capital expenditure.