IN BRIEF (Page 15)

SOE profits up 44.8%

Combined profits of China's State-owned enterprises (SOE) increased 44.8 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months, amounting to 1.63 trillion yuan ($245 billion), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said last Friday.

Profits rose 0.4 percent on a month-on-month basis, in October, while profits for central government-administered SOEs were down 4.5 percent, month-on-month.

The profits of the central SOEs in the first 10 months climbed 39.9 percent, year-on-year, to 1.129 trillion yuan.

New refinery began building

The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) began construction work on a new refinery on the island province of Hainan, last Sunday. The industrial park in the city of Dongfang is scheduled to begin using petroleum from the South China Sea in December 2012, the company said.

Spending on phase one of the project totaled 4.3 billion yuan. The company plans to put another 3.9 billion yuan into phase two, to produce vinyl products, by April 2013.

Deals for new jumbo jets

The Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC) said it has struck deals to build 100 of its C919 jumbo jets for Air China and five other domestic and overseas airline companies.

The agreements were reached with Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, CDB Leasing and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). This came on the sidelines of Airshow China 2010, held in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

China Eastern Airlines and British jet engine-maker Rolls-Royce signed a $1.2 billion deal last Tuesday.

Rolls-Royce will provide engines for 16 of China Eastern's Airbus-330-200 jets.

Hisense's annual sales up

China's Hisense Group, a leading home appliance maker, announced last Tuesday that sales will grow 7 percent year-on-year to 60 billion yuan, this year.

Zhou Xiaotian, vice president of Hisense, said that white goods contributed a lot to the increase.

Hisense Kelon Electrical Holdings Co Ltd, the air conditioner and refrigerator arm of the group, reported revenues of more than 14 billion yuan in the first three quarters, up 92.7 percent from a year earlier, and net profits of 469 million yuan, up 156.57 percent.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 11/23/2010 page15)