The Board of CNT Group Limited announced that based on the preliminary information available to the Board and the unaudited consolidated management accounts of the Group, the profit for the year ended 31 December 2017 is expected to decrease by approximately 45% to 55% as compared with the same for the year ended 31 December 2016. The expected decrease in the profit for the year was mainly attributable to the reduced profit contribution from the paint business and the occurrence of impairment loss on an available-for-sale investment during the year ended 31 December 2017. During the year ended 31 December 2017, the significant decrease in profit contribution from the paint business was primarily due to the significant increase in the purchase costs of major raw materials of the Group (which reduced the Group's gross profit margin even though there was an increase in revenue); and the strategy in reducing the average selling prices of paint and coating products for the purposes of promoting the sales of paint and coating products and increasing the market share.