Biz Scene: Market

Earnings up 46%

Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Ltd, controlled by China's richest woman Zhang Yin, said full-year profit increased 46 percent on demand for boxes.

Net income rose to 2 billion yuan in the year ended June, from 1.37 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. Sales climbed 24 percent to 9.84 billion yuan.

The company said it plans to invest 2.3 billion yuan to build its fourth plant in Tianjin's Ninghe County, which will have an output of 800,000 metric tons of paper products a year in its initial phase starting June 2009.

New models

Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, China's largest maker of sport-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks, plans to add more than 10 models, including compact cars, by 2010 in a bid to almost quadruple its auto sales.

Vehicle sales may reach 400,000 in 2010, including 200,000 cars, from an expected 110,000 this year, Bai Xuefei, the company's deputy general manager, said.

The automaker plans to begin selling its first compact, the GWPeri, next month, aiming to take a greater market share by introducing cheaper and more fuel-efficient vehicles.

(China Daily 09/21/2007 page15)