Biz scene

MARKET

Listing nod

China's Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings said yesterday it had received regulatory approval to issue and list up to 409.09 million shares in Hong Kong.

It also said China's National Social Security Fund had won official approval to convert up to 40.91 million shares in Chenming into Hong Kong-listed shares after its Hong Kong initial public offering.

Profit rises

Shanghai International Airport Co said profit rose 12 percent last year. Net income climbed to 1.69 billion yuan, or 0.88 yuan a share, from an adjusted 1.51 billion yuan, or 0.79 yuan a share, a year earlier, the company said in a preliminary earnings statement yesterday. Sales increased 6 percent to 3.14 billion yuan.

GRAPEVINE

Shoe deal

Belle International Ltd may acquire rival shoe retailer Mirabell International Holdings Ltd for more than HK$1.5 billion, Apple Daily reported, without citing any source.

The possible takeover may help increase Belle's footwear outlets to more than 6,500 from about 6,000, the newspaper said.

Belle and Mirabelle, both Hong Kong-listed companies, suspended their shares from trading on Monday, with Belle saying it may release a "price-sensitive" announcement.

Steel IPO

Sinosteel Corp plans to complete its initial public offering of yuan-denominated shares by July, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing an unidentified company official.

Sinosteel plans to raise between 10 billion yuan and 20 billion yuan from the A-share market and has hired BOC International (Holdings) Ltd and JPMorgan Chase & Co to help manage the share sale, the report said. The company will consider selling H shares after the A-share listing, it said.

Sinosteel aims to boost revenue to 80 billion yuan this year and to 100 billion yuan by 2010 from 61 billion yuan last year, the report said.

BIZ MOVES

Marketing chief

Vision China Media, China's largest out-of-home advertising network on mass transportation systems, has named Tang Jiaxing as its chief marketing officer.

Tang has more than 20 years of experience working in the media industry. Before joining Vision China Media, Tang held high positions in many local and international media companies, such as Ogilvy & Mather, Universal McCann and Sun TV (China). Tang was listed among China's 100 most influential advertising managers in 2004.

New chairman

Yunnan Copper Group Co, China's third biggest producer of the metal, appointed Liu Caiming as chairman, replacing Zou Shaolu, who resigned last month.

The board also named Yang Chao as vice-chairman, the Kunming-based copper maker said yesterday in a statement.

Liu, 48, was formerly deputy general manager of Aluminum Corp of China and served as an assistant to the governor of Yunnan province.

Yang Chao was formerly chairman of Yunnan Tin Co.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Ad drive

A media company in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, has introduced private car advertising in the city, a system in which car owners will be reimbursed for carrying ads on their vehicles.

With advertisements for restaurants and hotels painted on the car, the owner can receive up to 3,800 yuan annually. More than 700 car owners have already signed up. Most are medium and low-end cars, priced between 80,000 and 120,000 yuan. The first of these cars will hit the streets in early April.

Dust buster

Once an employee at a computer sales company in Zhongguancun, Beijing's technology hub, Wang Jiao struck upon the idea of setting up her own business of a computer cleaning service after noting clients' complaints about PC failures because of dust.

Wang started trials in March 2004 and set up a company in 2005 providing specialist cleaning and hygiene services for computers.

She now makes over 20,000 yuan a month and her personal assets are valued at more than 1 million yuan.

Online wedding

Some event management companies in Shanghai have started providing online wedding broadcasting services. "Those who cannot attend our wedding ceremony can share our happiness from home," said a man who has booked the service.

The price for the online broadcasting service ranges from 5,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan, according to the number of cameras used. A broadcasting director will switch among different camera positions for the right effect.

The service also includes setting up websites for couples, providing weblog spaces and making electronic photo albums.

LOCAL

Coal port

The Hebei communications department said the province will build the largest coal port in the world in three years, based on Qinhuangdao port, which already boasts an annual handling capacity of over 200 million tons of coal.

Ports at Qinhuangdao, Tangshan and Huanghua will be expanded in the coming years. Investment has been planned to increase the number of berths in the province to 119, which will be able to handle the transportation of 592 million tons of coal every year.

Tourism revenue

The tourism revenue of Fujian province totaled 100.3 billion yuan last year, a rise of 23.7 percent from 2006, taking up 11.05 percent of the provincial GDP.

In 2007, the province received 83 million tourists, a growth of 18.5 percent. The number of overseas visitors reached 1 million for the first time, 27.6 percent higher than 2006. Foreign exchange earnings in the tourism industry amounted to $2.1 billion, a record increase of 47 percent over the past few years.

(China Daily 02/27/2008 page15)