BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- China Duty Free Group Co., Ltd. (CDFG), a state-owned enterprise operating duty-free business, expects its profits to surge in the first half of the year, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Net profit attributable to equity shareholders is estimated to reach 5.44 billion yuan (about 842 million U.S. dollars) for the first half of 2021, almost five times the figure compared with the same period last year, according to the statement.

Operating revenue jumped by 83.85 percent year on year to 35.5 billion yuan during the period, the statement added.

The company has attributed the robust growth to China’s effective control of the COVID-19 epidemic, the introduction of new offshore duty-free policies, as well as the low-base factor last year.