COSCO Group sees profit

China Ocean Shipping Group Co (COSCO) returned to profit in 2014 after three years of losses, Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.

The State-backed shipping conglomerate, which controls China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd, had a profit of 5.04 billion yuan($809.26 million) last year.

Operating revenues were up 2 percent year-on-year, said Xinhua without providing a figure, while COSCO's asset to liability ratio fell 4.4 percentage points to 55.4 percent at the end of 2014.

COSCO is now targeting annual profitability of between 4 and 5.5 percent by 2020, said Xinhua.