Chinese companies at a glance

Onboard media platform

Skypine Electronics (Shenzhen) Co Ltd recently debuted a full digital car-mounted Multi Media Platform, the first of its kind in the country.

According to the company, it took one year for Chinese researchers to roll out the Wince operating system based Multi Media Platform C8. The new platform is able to receive satellite broadcasts and high definition digital broadcasts in a moving environment, and can be connected to a range of media, including iPod, SD memory card, and USB, enjoying the CD-quality reception of several hundred channels.

The system also supports intelligent control, such as voice triggered dial-in and function switching, making driving on the road safer. Additionally, it is able to plan the travel route in line with the traffic information it collects on a real-time basis, with the help of navigation technology. The Internet based open system features enhanced stability and versatile functions.

Founded in 2005, the company increased its annual revenue to 700 million yuan last year.

CDMA contract

ZTE Corp has won a contract worth 1.33 billion yuan from China Telecom to expand the latter's newly acquired mobile network. With this deal it will become the leading player in the domestic CDMA (code division multiple access) network equipment market, the supplier said.

The deal will likely boost Shenzhen-based ZTE's chances to secure further orders from China Telecom, which plans to invest a total of 80 billion yuan over three years to upgrade its mobile network, which it acquired from China Unicom, industry insiders said.

ZTE, the country's biggest public telecom equipment maker, will provide China Telecom wireless equipment for the CDMA network and related services valued at 1.27 billion yuan. The other 61 million yuan will be spent to expand China Telecom's fixed-line network expansion, ZTE said in a statement.

"ZTE now leads the Chinese CDMA market with a one-third share and we are expanding our business globally," the firm said in the statement.

Q3 profit

Ctrip.com, China's major online travel site, said its profits in the third quarter of the year rose 15 percent from the same period last year despite the global financial crisis.

The company made a net income of $55 million from July to September.

Specifically, profits from hotel and airline bookings rose. It said profits attributed to hotel bookings was $27 million, up 6 percent compared to July and September last year, but it was down 1 percent against April to June this year. Profits due to airline bookings totaled $25 million, a 21-percent jump from the same period last year and almost tied with the second quarter. This was due to a 37 percent jump in booking volume from last year's third quarter.

The firm also benefited from the increase in leisure tourism as its profits from this area rose 37 percent from last year to $4 million. On a quarterly basis the profit rose 19 percent, the company said.

Gold investment

China Gold Coin Inc (CGCI), the only professional company under the People's Bank of China dealing in gold and silver commemorative coins, plans to launch a series of gold and silver coins themed on Chinese traditional culture to meet customers' growing demand for collection and investment.

The first product of that series is a set of gold and silver coins featuring Chinese traditional currency "Ting", which began circulate as early as in the Tang Dynasty.

In the just concluded Beijing International Financial Expo, more traditional investment means, such as gold, have begun to catch on among investors due to the country's poor stock market.

But Zhang Bingnan, deputy director of China Gold Association, said gold should not be a major investment category for families. It usually takes 5 to 10 percent of a family's investment portfolio.

Though the price of gold also dropped during the financial crisis, it saw the smallest dip among commodities.

Cost cuts

Li & Fung Ltd, the Hong Kong supplier of toys and clothing to Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, plans to cut costs by 10 percent next year as the global economic slowdown hurts customers, according to a Bloomberg report.

Cutting back on business trips will be one of the ways the company will reduce costs, Chairman Victor Fung said last week. He denied an (Hong Kong) Apple Daily newspaper report that said the trading company plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs.

"We have to simplify costs and be careful in dealing with labor," Fung said. "We plan to reduce costs by cutting expenditure, say, reducing business trips. After that, we will then consider minimizing our staff."

While the company continues to seek opportunities to expand market share, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is hurting its clients. Retail sales and prices of goods imported to the United States dropped by the most on record last month, signaling the world's largest economy, where Li & Fung generates more than 60 percent of its sales, may be in its worst slump in decades.

Rational on takeovers

China Mobile Ltd, the world's biggest phone company by market value, will be "rational" and not "aggressive" in making overseas acquisitions, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said.

Emerging-market phone asset prices are "inexpensive", providing little incentive for owners to sell, Wang said last week. The Beijing-based company doesn't have an acquisition target at present, he said.

China Mobile, with net cash of 176 billion yuan at the end of June, may buy emerging-market phone companies to diversify as domestic competition increases after a government plan to reorganize carriers in the world's biggest telecommunications market. The Chinese company faces competition from carriers including Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd to acquire overseas assets.

Lower prices of emerging market-companies have enticed cash-rich buyers such as China Mobile to seek acquisitions. The MSCI Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Index has declined 49 percent this year.

China Mobile Communications Corp, which owns 74 percent of Hong Kong-listed China Mobile, is interested in expanding in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Wang said in April. The parent company will consider investing in minority holdings in addition to controlling stakes, said Wang.

High-end healthcare services

Ciming Group, the country's largest medical check-up chain, has launched a package of special healthcare services for the high-end customers.

According to Han Xiaohong, president of Ciming Checkup, "private doctors" are just emerging in China, with the annual cost higher than 100,000 yuan each year. Ciming Group will offer 30 packages of such private healthcare service within a year, mainly targeting CEOs.

A recent survey shows that around 50 percent of entrepreneurs are suffering from illness, nearly double that of their non-entrepreneurial peers aged over 30. Meanwhile, overtime and health concerns ranked as the fourth most common reason for employees to change jobs. Many companies, especially foreign owned firms are now including employees' health as part of their corporate social responsibility commitment, the survey said.

(China Daily 11/24/2008 page6)