IN BRIEF (Page 13)

China Mengniu profits rise

China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd, the country's top maker of dairy products, on Tuesday posted a 27.6 percent rise in first-half profit on solid sales growth. The company also pledged to ensure product quality, after a series of scandals tainted the dairy industry's reputation.

Ongoing market expansion and stricter government safety controls have "created a healthy environment to nurture the future development of the dairy industry in China", according to a statement from Chief Executive Officer Yang Wenjun.

Gome denies Bain report

Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd, China's second-largest electronics retailer, said shareholder Bain Capital LLC has no plans to reduce its stake, refuting reports in a Hong Kong newspaper that the investor may sell.

The private-equity company doesn't plan to sell its shares in Gome, He Yangqing, a spokesman for the company, said on Tuesday.

China Citic to sell bonds

China Citic Bank Corp Ltd plans to sell yuan-denominated bonds to the value of $4.7 billion in Hong Kong by 2013, the bank announced on Tuesday.

The move will help China Citic to raise capital at low cost and the bank will use the capital to issue loans and fund future expansion, Cao Guoqiang, the vice-president, said at a news briefing.

The bank reported net profit growth of 40.61 percent year-on-year to 15.02 billion yuan ($2.35 billion) in the first half of the year.

Dates unveiled for SME fairs

In order to improve communications between Chinese and foreign companies, more than 5,000 domestic and foreign SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) will gather in Guangzhou to trade products, technologies and services at the 8th China International SME Fair and the China-Thailand SME Fair between Sept 22 and 25.

The fairs are intended to help Chinese companies develop their reputations abroad and to introduce foreign companies to the Chinese market.

Barclays joins gold exchange

The Shanghai Gold Exchange has added the Shanghai branch of Barclays PLC as a foreign member after China's central bank approved the application, the exchange said in a statement on Tuesday. The bank is the sixth foreign member of the exchange, said Tong Gang, spokesman for the bourse.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 08/31/2011 page13)