Financials: China Construction Bank (939HK) recorded a net profit of 55.81 billion yuan for the first half, down 4.88 per cent compared with a year ago. The bank attributes the drop to the narrowed interest margin.Earnings per share were 0.24 yuan. No interim dividend was declared. Hang Seng Bank (11 HK) is considering to list in the A bourse and to issue yuan bonds, said Leung Ko May-yee, the new vice chairman and chief executive of Hang Seng Bank. PICC Property and Casualty (2328 HK), the mainland's largest non-life insurer by premiums, returned to profit in the first half. The insurer reported a 322 million yuan net profit, against a 292 million yuan loss a year earlier, as claims because of natural catastrophes declined. No interim dividend was proposed.
Consumer: Gome (493 HK) recorded a profit of 580.31 million yuan for the first half, down 49.5 per cent compared with a year ago. Earnings per share were 0.045 yuan. No interim dividend was declared. Ex Chair Huang Guangyu was requested by the Securities and Futures Commission to return 1.66 billion yuan to Gome, his case was proved to have no relation to the company. A hearing will be held on September 8. Parkson Retail (3368 HK) announced a net profit of 462 million yuan for the first half, up 12 per cent. A 5 fen of interim dividend is declared. Bossini International Holdings (592 HK)’s controlling shareholder, Law Ka-sing, quitted as chairman yesterday. The company said Mr Law, 59, was retiring, adding that he had no disagreement with the board and there is no matter relating to his resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the shareholders.
Properties: SOHO China (410) made a clarification on press reports relating to a rumour of an evasion of 600 million yuan tax.Based on its financial and tax investigations conducted during the acquisition of The Exchange, the company is reasonably satisfied that the Hong Kong project companies had paid related taxes and fees in acquiring the property title. SOHO China reiterates that this transaction is for the acquisition of the property title of The Exchange. All previous transfers by the project developers of the project development right and the resulting changes in the project development right and payment of related taxes shall bear no relation to the company's acquisition. SOHO China stressed that it has complied stringently with the PRC tax laws since inception. Prosperity Real Estate Investment Trust (808 HK) said its distributable income was HK$73.07 million for the first half, down 1.8 per cent from a year ago. The trust will distribute HK$0.0554 per unit. The trust says it is seeking to acquire Tier-1 city project in mainland.
Resources: Yanzhou Coal Mining (1171 HK), the fourth biggest producer of fuel in China, posts a net profit of 2.02 billion yuan for the year ended June 30, down 48 per cent from the prior year. The company attributes the loss to the drop in price and sales of coal. Sinopec (386 HK) recorded a net profit of 33.2 billion yuan for the first half, soared threefold from a year earlier. The company said the higher-than-expected interim net profit is boosted by the higher retail price of oil products in China. Earning per share were 0.383 yuan. An interim dividend of 0.07 yuan was proposed. Sinopec forecasts its financial results for the first three quarters of this year could show a 50 per cent improvement over a year earlier due to the rising demand for chemical products. Hunan Nonferrous Metals (2626 HK) posts an interim net loss of 212 million yuan, down from a net profit of 74 million yuan from a year earlier. The net loss is attributed to the plunging demand for the nonferrous metals in the economic recession and a drop in its prices. Losses per share were 5.79 fen. No interim dividend was declared.
Industrials: First Tractor (38HK) reported a net profit of 169 million yuan for the first half, up 1.17 times from a year earlier, boosted by the favourable agricultural development policy. The company proposes no interim dividend. It expects a rise in the sales of its industrial machinery due to the recovering demand in the market.
Sources: Sing Tao Finance, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Hong Kong Economic Times, The Standard
