IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Auto

Ford to take luxury brand Lincoln to China

US automaker Ford Motor Co will soon add the Lincoln luxury brand to its lineup of vehicles in China. The luxury vehicles will be available from the second half of 2014 and the company will begin recruiting dealers for the brand in the fourth quarter of this year.

Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said in Beijing on Aug 28 that the Lincoln marks the next step in the company's expansion in Asia.

The company's expansion is built on its expectation that China's luxury car market will surpass the luxury segment in the United States by 2020, with sales expected to reach 2.7 million units. Sales from the top 10 luxury brands in China, including Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, hit almost 1 million units last year.

Banking

CCB still faces tough second half

China Construction Bank Corp, the world's second-largest lender by market value, is facing rising levels of overdue loans, despite reporting record half-year earnings and a decline in bad loans.

"We have already strengthened our efforts to handle the sour loans. But it's very hard to say whether we can maintain the declines in both the nonperforming-loan amount and its ratio to total loans," said CCB Vice-President Chen Zuofu.

In the first six months of this year, the amount of CCB's overdue loans increased by more than 60 percent to 24.7 billion yuan ($3.9 billion, 3.1 billion euros).

Zhao Huan, another CCB vice-president, added that the lender needs to further strengthen its asset and liability management as the floating range of both lending and deposits has broadened.

Technology

Software revenues up in first 7 months

Revenues in China's software industry rose to more than 1.3 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year, up 25.4 percent year-on-year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The strong growth came as the software businesses flourished in the nation's western regions such as Chongqing, Sichuan and Shaanxi during the period, according to the MIIT.

The surge in revenues was accompanied by a 12.5 percent rise in export value of the sector in the same period, which reached $19.1 billion (billion euros), up 12.5 percent year-on-year.

Energy

CNOOC offers more offshore oil blocks

Offshore oil producer China National Offshore Oil Corp has offered 26 more offshore blocks for joint development with foreign exploration companies, which experts said represented a massive expansion in its exploration activity.

It is the second round of joint development tenders by the State-owned oil and gas giant this year for offshore oil resources, after inviting foreign companies to bid for nine blocks in the western area of the South China Sea in June.

The latest auction includes 22 blocks in the South China Sea, three in the East China Sea and one in northern China's Bohai Bay, covering a total area of 73,754 square kilometers.

Insurance

China Life H1 profit down 26%

Life insurer China Life Insurance Co Ltd posted a 25.7 percent year-on-year fall in net profit during the first six months of the year to 9.64 billion yuan.

The sharp decline in profit is mainly the result of the weak performance of the capital market, which caused decreased returns from investments and losses from the devaluation of assets, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Revenue dropped 2.9 percent to 225.3 billion yuan in the six-month period from the same period of last year. Total insurance premiums during the period declined 5.2 percent from a year ago to 184.7 billion yuan.

Shipping

Italian boat-maker plans China plant

Ferretti Group, whose Riva unit made boats for celebrities including Sean Connery, intends to open an assembly plant in China as its new Chinese parent seeks to drive up sales in the world's most-populous country.

Tan Xuguang, chairman of the company and of its majority-owner Shandong Heavy Industry Group-Weichai Group, said the Italian yacht maker is considering plans for the facility in Qingdao, Shandong province. The plant will customize vessels for the local market, he said.

Tan said Ferretti plans to boost sales in emerging markets led by China, Brazil and Russia, as the eurozone debt crisis saps demand in Europe.

Textiles

Trinity growth to accelerate on policies

Trinity Ltd, the high-end menswear retailer that sells Gieves & Hawkes and Cerruti in China, expects sales to increase faster next year as the government takes steps to boost economic growth.

Growth may pick up next year after same-store sales increased about 6.5 percent in the first half, said Sunny Wong, managing director of Trinity adding that the growth in comparable-store sales could climb to "mid-to-high single digits" for the full year.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 08/31/2012 page14)