Investors and traders in China’s main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today
China’s Internet wave continues to roll on. Benefitting from growth in China’s Internet use and search-related advertising, U.S.-traded search engine Baidu said this morning that net profit in the first quarter rose by 123% from a year earlier to $163.5 million. See related story here.
Shares in online news and gaming company Sohu.com rose by 5.2% in overnight U.S. trading to an all-time high of $106.16 as the company continued to rally after reporting a 34% increase in first-quarter earnings on Monday. More companies from the industry are lining up to list: Chinese online dating website Jiayuan.com yesterday filed for a U.S. IPO, following Intel-backed Phoenix New Media earlier this week. Not all major Chinese Internet companies rose yesterday, though: Money-losing Youku, the online video site, fell 5.5% after a ratings downgrade.
In news involving large Chinese financial service companies, Ping An Insurance, the 16% HSBC-owned insurance giant whose shares trade in Hong Kong and Shanghai, said yesterday that the company’s net profit rose by 28% in the first quarter from a year earlier to 5.8 billion, outperforming rival China Life, whose net profit fell 22%. Ping An will take questions online from 2-4 p.m. local time and exchange with investors and shareholders on May 4 as a follow-up to its quarterly report published yesterday. Investors can visit http://www.p5w.net. Questions can be posed in English and simplified Chinese but the replies will be in simplified Chinese.
China Minsheng Banking, whose shares trade in Shanghai and Hong Kong, said today first-quarter revenue was 17 billion yuan, up 39% from a year earlier; net profit was 6.2 billion yuan, up 45.5%; Its shares closed at 6.19 yuan, up 1.64%. The company is partly owned by Liu Yonghao, the Chinese billionaire who ranked no. 301 on the 2011 Forbes Billionaires List with wealth of $3.5 billion.
Among other domestically listed companies reporting first-quarter earnings today, electrical appliance and electronic giant GD Midea Holding said first-quarter revenue rose by 96% to 30.5 billion yuan. The company’s net profit rose by a slower 17.5% to 711.5 million yuan. Founder He Xiangjian ranked no. 185 on the 2011 Forbes Billionaires List with wealth of $5.5 billion. Its Shenzhen-listed shares closed at 17.75 yuan, down 0.39%, yesterday.
Smaller Shenzhen-listed private-label electronics maker Shenzhen MTC said first-quarter revenue rose by 15% from a year earlier to 671 million yuan; net profit rose by 2.5% to 66 million yuan. Its shares closed at 22.78 yuan, down 1.8%, yesterday. Chairman Gu Wei ranked no. 1,140 on the 2011 Forbes billionaires list with wealth $1 billion.
In the transportation industry, state-controlled carrier China Southern Airlines, whose shares trade in Shanghai and New York, said its first-quarter revenue rose by 21% to 20.5 billion yuan; net profit dropped by 13% to 1.2 billion yuan. The company’s stock lost 3.5% in New York overnight. Among other big Chinese state-controlled companies traded in New York, shares in Petrochina lost 1.1% last night . The company said yesterday first-quarter revenue rose by 40% to 446 billion yuan; net profit rose by 14% to 37 billion yuan amid a big increase in oil prices.
Turning back to China, Shenzhen-listed Wanxiang Qianchao, the auto-part manufacturing arm of billionaire Lu Guanqiu, said today first-quarter revenue rose by 11% to 2.2 billion yuan. The company’s net profit rose by 11% to 128 million yuan. Lu, who accompanied President Hu Jintao on the Chinese president’s trip to the U.S. earlier this year, ranked no. 362 on the 2011 Forbes Billionaires List with wealth $3.1. Lu’s agribusiness arm, Shanghai-listed WanXiang Doneed, said today first-quarter revenue fell 15.8% to 118 million yuan in first three months; net profit was 12 million yuan, up 1.8%; Its shares rose by 1.88% to 14.67 yuan;
Also in domestic trading yesterday, shares in wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind Group lost 4.9% after it said net profit in the first quarter rose by only 1%, to 438 milllion yuan. Revenue gained by 20.3% from a year earlier to 3359 million yuan; net profit rose by 1% to 438.5 million yuan. Chairman Han Junliang ranked no. 879 on the 2011 Forbes Billionaires List with wealth $1.4 billion.
Metro Land, the Beijing transit real estate developer Metro Land partly whose second-biggest investor is Chinese billionaire Shen Guojun, rose by 2.6% yesterday after it said first-quarter net profit rose eight-folowed to 147 million yuan. Shen’s Hong Kong-listed retail Intime said today net profit last year climated to 685 million yuan from 462 million yuan a earlier ago.
Three companies will start trading in China today: Jiangsu Tongda Power Technology (002576), a wind turbine maker whose clients include Siemens, GE and ABB; Shenzhen Rapoo Technology (002577), a computer peripherals maker whose clients include Gome and Suning Appliance; and Fujian Minfa Aluminium (002578), an aluminum maker.
-With Maggie Chen
