Biz scene

MARKET

Moutai high

Kweichow Moutai Co rose by the 10 percent daily limit yesterday in Shanghai trading after reporting that 2007 profit jumped 81 percent.

Net income climbed to 2.88 billion yuan in 2007, from an adjusted 1.59 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said in a preliminary earnings statement over the weekend. Sales gained 48 percent to 7.24 billion yuan.

The company plans to release full-year earnings on March 13.

African contracts

China National Materials Co said it won contracts valued at $1.6 billion to build factories in Africa, boosting its business overseas.

The deals cover seven production lines spread across Nigeria and Senegal, said Sinoma, as the company is known. The daily capacity for each line will be around 6,000 tons, it added.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Pirated toys

Comedian and director Stephen Chow has expressed anger over pirated toys of "space dog", a character in his newly released film CJ7. The pirated space dogs have become a runaway hit. Toys, watches and other items hit the market even before CJ7 premiered. Chow said all CJ7 toys in the market are pirated, promising to reward informants.

Fancy costumes

Stores selling costumes and accessories designed according to characters in comic books or online games are popular among cosplay fans.

A whole set of apparel in the online game The Legend of Three Kingdoms, including a cape, cuffs and leg-harnesses, is going for 1,500 yuan. But most costumes are sold for several hundred yuan.

Cosroom, a shop in Shanghai, became famous among fans after making dresses for all cosplayers at a comic exhibition. The shop owner, surnamed Zhang, said the costumes she designed were also exported to Japan and Korea. Her profits totaled 300,000 yuan last year.

GRAPEVINE

Share sale

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co, the country's third largest life underwriter, began pre-marketing a Hong Kong share sale yesterday that would raise roughly $3.8 billion based on the price of its Shanghai-listed stock, Reuters reported, citing a source.

The company plans to sell 783 million shares in Hong Kong, or 9.2 percent of its enlarged share capital, not counting an over-allotment option, in a deal handled by China International Capital Corp, Credit Suisse and UBS, the report said.

Want Want IPO

Taiwan-based snack maker Want Want China Holdings Ltd plans to raise up to $1.43 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Want Want plans to sell 2.72 billion shares, of which 85.4 percent are existing shares, at an IPO price ranging from HK$3 to HK$4.1 per share, the report said.

Goldman Sachs, UBS and BNP are the sponsors of the issue.

Stake auction

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd and China Construction Bank Corp intend to take part in the planned auction of Temasek Holdings Pte's stake in an Indonesian lender, the South China Morning Post reported, without citing any source.

The sale of the stake in PT Bank Internasional Indonesia is expected to fetch at least $1 billion, the report said. Temasek owns 75 percent of Sorak Financial Holdings, which owns 55.97 percent in the Indonesian lender, it said.

LOCAL

Port plan

China's largest ocean-filling land project covering an area of over 160 sq km, is due to be completed at Binhai New Area in Tianjin municipality in five years.

The 60 billion yuan project conducted by Tianjin Port Co Ltd comprises a 30 sq km Dongjiang port area, a 13 sq km Nanjiang port area and a 120 sq km industrial area adjacent to the port.

The container business will be the development focus at Dongjiang, while the core business of Nanjiang is petroleum and chemical storage, and the industrial area will focus on heavy equipment manufacturing.

Cultural project

Shandong will invest 30 billion yuan to build the "Chinese Cultural Symbolic City", the first of its kind in the country, which will cover an area of 300 sq km.

The project will be in the city of Jining, one of the cradles of Chinese civilization and the birthplace of Confucius and his major disciple Mencius.

The new cultural city will incorporate the county-level city of Qufu, ancestral home of Confucius; Zoucheng, home of Mencius; and the Jiulong mountain range between the two cities. Designs and plans for the city are being solicited from the public till September.

BIZ MOVES

Metro president

Metro China has announced the appointment of Tino Zeiske to be its new president, effective March 1.

Before this, Zeiske was vice-president of Finance and Administration at Metro China.

Former president Jean-Luc Tuzes will assume other duties in European or Asian regions of Metro. During his six years in China, Metro outlets here increased from 15 to 37.

New position

Ogilvy China has appointed Tom Wan in a newly created role as vice-president for OgilvyOne China to lead strategic digital initiatives for major clients including overseeing the agency's digital innovation lab.

A key part of Wan's new role is to lead his team at the digital lab to develop emerging technologies and implement digital solutions for clients.

(China Daily 03/04/2008 page15)