HAECO, aeronautical engineering and maintenance services provider, posted satisfactory 1H08 results on 5 Aug 08. Revenue grew 12% y-y to HK$2,496M, largely driven by 21.5% y-y revenue growth (to HKD922M) of China's operations. Operating profit rose only 9.2% y-y to HK$593M due to higher operating expenses. Of which, staff remuneration and benefits jumped to HKD949M, up 11.1%; cost of direct material and job expenses soared 17.6% y-y to HKD614M. Despite higher wages and material costs, its operating margin only slightly dropped by 0.4% to 23.6%. Net profit increased mildly to HKD591M, up 7.8% y-y. Compared with 37.7% y-y net profit growth in 1H07, 1H08 results were not notable at all and reflect its necessity to seek capacity expansion for earnings growth.