Biz scene

GRAPEVINE

Bourse plan

Hong Kong's bourse wants to introduce in stages a controversial plan requiring listed firms to report earnings every quarter rather than twice a year as now, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

A full quarterly reporting requirement, which had triggered strong opposition from major firms from HSBC to billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong, is expected to be put in place by 2011, the report quoted a regulatory source as saying.

Stake talks

Actividades de Construccion & Servicios SA (ACS), Spain's largest construction company, is in talks to buy at least 10 percent of the construction unit of China CITIC Bank Corp, Expansion reported, citing people within ACS it didn't identify.

The Spanish builder aims to complete the purchase this year and is close to establishing the terms, the newspaper said.

BoCom pulls out

Bank of Communications has pulled out of the auction for Hong Kong's Wing Lung Bank Ltd, leaving just two banks in the hunt for a bank that is expected to fetch roughly $4.8 billion, Reuters reported yesterday, citing an unidentified source.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd is reportedly bidding for a stake in Wing Lung. The other bidder is Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, Australia's third-biggest lender.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Profit in black and white

Shandong farmer Jiang Yuntu earns big bucks by raising black-and-white chickens. Called "reed flower hens", these chickens have black and white feathers and are priced at 120 yuan each. They are usually served at high-end restaurants.

Low calorie, high profit

A shop selling low-calorie snacks in Hangzhou has become a huge hit in the region. The owner, Wang Ping, said her low-calorie fare sells like hot cakes, especially among health-conscious women. "We maintain the original taste of traditional snacks but make them low-calorie," said Wang, who makes 10,000 yuan per month from her special snacks.

Try a pet

A pet shop in Beijing now offers prospective customers the option of renting pets before actually buying one. The shop's owner said young customers who are not sure if they can shoulder the responsibility of raising pets could try it first by renting. And more and more people seem to prefer to do exactly that.

LOCAL

Subway road map

Construction of the second subway line in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, will kick off this year, with a total investment of 12 billion yuan, according to the city's development and reform commission.

The subway line has a planned length of 25.5 km in the short term, from the city's east to the west, and is expected to be finished in five years.

In the long run, the line will be extended to Xianyang in the west and Lintong in the east.

Village aid

Liaoning province will allocate 260 million yuan to improve the condition of 500 poor villages and will make sure every poor village gets at least 500,000 yuan from the fund.

Around 80 percent of the rural population stricken with poverty in Liaoning are located in the remote western areas. The provincial government will arrange for 3,200 households from these areas to move to more developed regions.

Biotech thrust

Tianjin will be developed as the country's leading industrial biotechnology research and innovation center in three to five years, said Li Jiayang, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at China Industrial Biotechnology Summit Forum.

Tianjin Industrial Biotechnology R&D Center, jointly developed by the CAS and the municipal government, is under construction. It is expected to be the new technological landmark in Tianjin's Binhai New District.

BIZ MOVE

Board changes

Linktone, a leading provider of wireless interactive entertainment services to consumers and advertising services in China, has announced the appointment of Anthony Chia as its chief operating officer and Jimmy Lai as its chief financial officer, as well Muliawan Guptha to its board, in addition to other board changes.

Chia has over 30 years of media business operations and executive management experience. Before joining Linktone, he was a senior adviser to PT Media Nusantara Citra and the controlling shareholder of Linktone following MNC's strategic investment, which was completed on April 3.

MARKET

Glass firm shines

Fuyao Group Glass Industries Co, China's biggest maker of automotive glass, said first-quarter profit rose 19 percent on higher car demand.

Net income rose to 190.5 million yuan, or 0.19 yuan a share, from 160.1 million yuan, or 0.16 a share, a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday, citing unaudited numbers. Sales rose to 1.34 billion yuan from 1.10 billion yuan.

Smelter suffers

Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co, China's biggest zinc smelter, said first-quarter profit fell 85 percent after snowstorms cut production and prices dropped.

Net income slipped to 15.8 million yuan, or 0.03 yuan a share, in the quarter ended March 31, from a restated 102.3 million yuan, or 0.19 yuan, a year ago, the company, based in Hunan province, said in a statement yesterday. Sales fell 41 percent to 2.18 billion yuan.

Zhuzhou Smelter halted production at its zinc and lead smelters in January as the country's worst snowstorms in 50 years cut power and disrupted transport. The price of zinc in London fell 29 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as supplies outpaced demand.

Bank gains

Bank of Beijing said yesterday that its net profit jumped at least 180 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter of this year. The bank, in which Dutch group ING Groep holds a 16.07 percent stake, said all areas of its business developed well in the period.

In the first quarter of last year, the bank made a net profit of 550.56 million yuan.

Another Beijing-based bank, Huaxia Bank, also said yesterday its first quarter net profit jumped at least 80 percent from a year earlier.

(China Daily 04/23/2008 page15)