… A number of Chinese companies are quietly setting foot on the high-end water market, long dominated by overseas brands like Evian, Volvic and Perrier. A few domestic brands — such as 5100 Tibet Glacier Spring Water — have already exceeded the sales of those foreign giants.
In its latest financial report, Tibet 5100 Water Resources Holdings Ltd, which produces the water, said its revenues in 2011 were 633 million yuan ($99.2 million), up 76 percent from the previous year.
The figure is impressive, given that the company’s first production line was set up only five years ago. In that time, the company went public in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first domestic premium mineral water maker to launch an IPO.
For other water companies, the high profit margins are more appealing. In the financial report, Tibet 5100 said its gross profit margin was 79 percent, up from 64 percent a year before…