Sands China profit rises 22%

Sands China Ltd, Asia's biggest listed casino operator, said profit rose 22 percent last year as Macao visitors gambled more on card games and slot machines.

Net income increased to $213.8 million from $175.7 million a year earlier, Sands China, which has the second-biggest market share among Macao casinos, said in a statement to Hong Kong's stock exchange yesterday.

The casino operator controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson has gained 2.9 percent in Hong Kong trading after raising $2.5 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering and convertible bond sales last year.

Zhongsheng to delay HK IPO

Zhongsheng Group Holdings Ltd, a mainland automobile dealer, delayed taking orders from institutions for a Hong Kong initial public offering to raise as much as $1 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Dalian, northeastern China-based company cited "current market conditions," the people said yesterday, declining to be identified because the information is private.

Transparency on short selling

Hong Kong's securities watchdog said yesterday it will require higher transparency in local short selling activities by introducing a short-position reporting regime. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said the proposed scheme will mainly apply to large capitalization stocks, such as constituents of the benchmark Hang Seng Index and H-shares index, financial stocks and other stocks specified by the SFC. "A build-up of large short positions may be potentially disruptive to market stability," the SFC's Chief Executive Officer Martin Wheatley said in a statement.

Jan visitor arrivals up 5.9% yr/yr

Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong rose 5.9 percent from a year earlier in January to 2.96 million, data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board showed. As the global economy stabilizes and consumer sentiment gradually recovers, most short-haul and long-haul markets recorded remarkable growth in arrivals compared with January 2009, when arrivals suffered under the global financial crisis, the tourism board said in a statement. Hotel occupancy in January averaged 87 percent, up eight percentage points from a year earlier. The average hotel room rate in January was HK$1,096 (US$140.5), down 1.9 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Agencies - China Daily

(HK Edition 03/03/2010 page3)