As far as I believe this question is not pulling a fast on the split three times vs triple.

The reason for C being incorrect is that the sentence implies 17.4million is 3 times as much as 1999. But is it ? Is 17.4 million is 3 times of 1999 or 17.4 million is 3 times of the revenue it was in 1999? The later one is the obvious answer "17.4 million is 3 times of the revenue it was in 1999". This wrong comparison is followed in B and C. So wrong.

E is unnecessarily wordy and makes the sentence ambiguous.

Out of remaining two options A and D, D is incorrect because of the pronoun "it", which does not have a clear antecedent.

So Answer is A.

thanks. i see what you mean.

one thing that confused me is the usage:

"... figure for 1999"

- is for the correctly used here? or should it be of?

clawhammer wrote:thanks. i see what you mean.

one thing that confused me is the usage:

"... figure for 1999"

- is for the correctly used here? or should it be of?

For is correctly used here. See the below sentence it may make sense....

The figure for the revenue of 1999.

isn't figure relating to revenue?

should i check it as:

... triple the revenue for 1999. - is this correct?

clawhammer wrote:isn't figure relating to revenue?

should i check it as:

... triple the revenue for 1999. - is this correct?

Yes this is correct .. My mistake the word figure can be meant for the Revenue of 1999. I actually wanted to tell u that the word figure is used to clear the ambiguity what it refers to.