IN BRIEF (Page 13)

GF Futures joins exchange

Chinese futures company GF Futures (Hong Kong) Co Ltd has joined Singapore Exchange Ltd as its first Chinese member, the exchange said on Monday.

The admission of GF Futures to the derivatives market of the exchange shows that Asian customers are increasingly keen to have direct access to the internationalized suite of products offered by Singapore Exchange, said Chew Sutat, head of sales and clients at the company.

BYD's H1 net income tanks

BYD Co's first-half net income fell 88.6 percent from a year earlier to 275.4 million yuan ($43 million), the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

That's compared with 2.4 billion yuan in the same period a year ago, the statement said.

China Mobile user base grows

China Mobile Ltd, China's largest mobile carrier, said on Monday that its total mobile subscribers increased to 621.85 million in July, including 37.6 million third-generation (3G) subscribers

China Mobile said on its website that 3G subscribers rose by 2.57 million in July, while total users increased by 5.06 million.

Economic focus for ship expo

The World Shipping (China) Summit 2011 will run from Nov 2 to 4 in Boao, Hainan province. The summit has been jointly sponsored by companies including China Ocean Shipping Co and Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd over the past seven years.

This year's summit, under the theme of "Balance and Breakthrough", will focus on surviving the complicated economic climate after the global downturn.

BlueScope Steel to add capacity

BlueScope Steel Ltd, Australia's largest steel producer, on Monday reported a A$1 billion ($1.05 billion) full-year loss and said that it aims to raise production capacity in China by 33 percent.

"We have a business in China that's going from strength to strength," said Paul O'Malley, chief executive officer of the Melbourne-based company.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 08/23/2011 page13)