HONG KONG - Citic Pacific climbed back into the black last year, the scandal-plagued investment firm said Wednesday, after suffering massive losses from unauthorised currency trading bets in 2008.

The Hong Kong-listed conglomerate said it earned 5.9 billion Hong Kong dollars (S$1.06 million), or 1.63 per share, on revenues of 46.4 billion Hong Kong dollars in 2009.

The profit marked a sharp turnaround from 2008 when the Chinese government-backed firm, which has interests ranging from steel to property, posted a whopping 12.7 billion Hong Kong dollar shortfall.

In December 2008, Citic revealed that it could be on the hook for as much as 18.6 billion Hong Kong dollars in losses from the rogue currency bets, after an unanticipated strengthening of the US dollar against the Australian dollar.

The scandal forced the company to take financial help from its parent company Citic Group, a state-run Chinese firm, and sparked the resignation of chairman Larry Yung in April last year. Two executives involved in the currency bets were forced to resign.

Yung and his team were heavily criticised for first disclosing the foreign exchange trading losses in October 2008, six weeks after top executives said they became aware of them.

Hong Kong police raided Citic's offices last year in a probe that is ongoing, while market watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission, launched an investigation of Citic's board over the rogue currency trades.

On Wednesday, chairman Chang Zhenming said an internal report on Citic's business revealed there were "certain areas requiring improvement, including the need for enhanced training and better communication between headquarters and subsidiary companies."

"We are taking these findings very seriously and have begun to formulate programmes to address them," Chang said in a report on Citic's annual results which was posted to the Hong Kong exchange.

Citic's share price climbed about four percent to 18.38 Hong Kong dollars in midday trading.

-AFP