IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Auto

Chery to recall defective cars

Chinese automaker Chery will recall 17,537 of its A3 models due to defective anti-lock braking system modules, the country's quality watchdog said Monday.

The recall, which involves A3 sedans manufactured from July 17, 2008 to May 31, 2009, will start from Sept 25, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement.

Due to a quality issue, the ABS and ESP (electronic stability program) control modules may malfunction and pose safety hazards.

Chery will replace defective parts free of charge, the statement said.

Metals

Chalco investment yields offset H1 net loss

Shanghai-listed Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the country's top aluminum producer, posted a first-half net loss of 623.8 million yuan ($101.9 million), an 80.82 percent year-on-year decrease.

In the first half of 2012 Chalco's net loss was 3.25 billion yuan.

The report said the net loss was due to lower prices and oversupply for the world's top producer and consumer of the metal.

Chalco's yield from investments in the first half of 2013 was 1.75 billion yuan. Analysts said the yield from investments contributed to Chalco's shrinking net loss amid difficult market conditions, and the aluminum producer may see a net profit by the end of 2013.

Food

Dairy companies see rising revenues

Yili Industrial Group reported half-year revenues of 24.02 billion yuan ($3.9 billion), up 13.41 percent year-on-year.

Another dairy industry giant, China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd's total revenue in the first half reached 20.67 billion yuan, registering year-on-year growth of 13.3 percent.

Yili's net profit during the period reached 1.75 billion yuan, up 125.06 percent year-on-year while Mengniu generated 750 million yuan in net profit, increasing 16.3 percent compared to a year earlier.

The third company in the industry Bright Dairy & Food Co Ltd grossed 7.44 billion yuan in revenue.

Deals

AMP, China Life ink funds management JV

AMP Capital will establish a new funds management company in China with Life Asset Management Company, a subsidiary of China's largest insurer China Life Insurance Company, Australian and New Zealand independent wealth management company AMP announced Monday.

AMP Capital, a subsidiary of AMP, will hold a 15 percent stake in China Life AMP Asset Management Company, with the balance to be held by China Life Asset Management Company.

The joint venture has received regulatory approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, and is subject to regulatory approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

It will be China Life's first joint venture on the Chinese mainland with a foreign partner in funds management.

Indofood to buy China Minzhong for $382m

Indonesian instant noodle firm Indofood has launched a takeover offer for food producer China Minzhong in a deal estimated at around S$734 million ($575 million), just days after an attack by a short-seller eroded almost half of the Chinese firm's market value.

Indofood Sukses Makmur, the top shareholder in Singapore-listed China Minzhong Food Corp Ltd, said it had increased its stake to 33.49 percent after buying additional shares from the market at S$1.12 per share, which kicked off a mandatory offer for the remaining shares at the same price. The agreement to buy the shares it does not own would cost Indofood $382 million.

The deal comes after Minzhong's stock market value plunged to $273 million last week following a 49-page report by California-based Glaucus Research on accounting issues at the company. Minzhong has rejected any irregularities.

Finance

Big bonanza for lenders in H1

The banking sector was the most lucrative industry in the A-share market in the first half of 2013, according to a recent report. Mining and metal-producing sectors experienced a tough time.

Combined net profit of all the A-share listed companies was 1.1 trillion yuan ($179 billion), an 11.64 percent year-on-year increase. The combined income of all the A-share listed companies was 11.52 trillion yuan, an 8.63 percent year-on-year increase, according to statistics compiled by Wind Information Co Ltd, a financial information services provider.

"Net profit posted by companies from various sectors show that economic transformation moved forward at a slow and stable pace," said a report published by Haitong Securities Co Ltd.

Seventeen listed companies posted more than 10 billion yuan each in net profit in the first half of 2013, among which 11 were banks. The combined net profit of 16 A-share listed banks totaled 610.15 billion yuan in the first half of 2013. It accounted for 56 percent of the combined net profit of all the 2,467 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Property

Home prices keep rising in August

New home prices in 100 major cities averaged 10,442 yuan ($1,706) per square meter in August, rising for 15 consecutive months in month-on-month terms, and indicating the recovery of the property sector, a survey has shown.

Of the 100 cities tracked by the China Index Academy, the research arm of Soufun, China's largest property website, 71 cities posted month-on-month increases, with 31 of them seeing prices rising at a pace above 1 percent, two cities fewer than in July.

The other 29 cities saw monthly declines, 10 cities fewer than in the previous month. Of those, 14 cities saw drops more than 1 percent.

On an annual basis, new home prices in the 100 cities increased 8.61 percent on average, 0.67 percentage point higher than in July.

Policy

Higher taxes for plane, lignite imports

Value-added tax on imports of planes with an empty weight of above 25 metric tons has been increased from 4 percent to 5 percent, the government said on Monday.

Imported planes with an empty weight between 25 and 45 metric tons will now have a tax rate of 5 percent compared with 1 percent earlier, a statement posted on the central government's website said.

The country has also scrapped its zero-tariff policy on imports of lignite, a form of low-rank coal. Instead, a 3-percent tax has been resumed on imports, the statement said. It said that these adjustments had become effective on Aug 30.

Commodities

Cotton trading center coming up in Xinjiang

Cotton processors in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are planning to build a cotton-trading center in the country's largest cotton planting area.

The center will be located in the Xinjiang Huijin Logistics Garden, Korla city, in southern Xinjiang. It will be jointly supported by 17 cotton purchase and processing enterprises with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($242 million).

The first phase of the project, with an investment of nearly 300 million yuan, will have a storage capacity of 600,000 tons, while the second-phase of the project will increase the capacity to 3.6 million tons.

Besides storage, the center will cooperate with other cotton future centers in the country to make it a complex platform for cotton logistics, trade and transaction.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/06/2013 page14)