Statistics

China Shenhua net profit up 16.6% in 2009

(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-13 09:50

China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, the largest coal producer in the country, said Friday its net profit rose 16.6 percent to 30.28 billion yuan ($4.43 billion) in 2009 from the previous year.

Business revenue expanded 13.2 percent to 121.31 billion yuan in 2009 year-on-year, said the company in an annual business report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Earnings per share was 1.522 yuan, up 16.6 percent year-on-year.

Shares of China Shenhua dipped 0.24 percent to 28.77 yuan Friday, before the release of its annual earnings.

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China Shenhua increased production by 13 percent last year as the nation's economic growth gathered pace, spurring demand for energy, the coal producer said on Jan 20. Sales rose 9.3 percent to 254.3 million metric tons, the company said then.

"Shenhua has invested in increasing capacity, and along with the recovery in demand, this is the main driver in raising profit," said Martin Wang, an energy analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Hong Kong.

Shenhua Energy plans to switch from "reliance on self- investment to a combination of investment, mergers and acquisitions," the company said in the statement, without elaborating.

Demand Outlook

Coal demand in China, the world's second-largest energy user, may rise this year as the economy expands, and the nation is likely to remain a net importer of the fuel in 2010, Shenhua Energy said. The company had marketable coal reserves of 6.9 billion tons as of the end of 2009 under international standards, it said in the statement.

Coal imports more than tripled last year to 125.8 million tons as the country sought to meet higher demand, the customs department said Jan 21. Use of the fuel will probably climb 3.3 percent to 3.15 billion tons this year, the National Development and Reform Commission said March 5.

Shenhua Energy may face higher costs if the government changes tax laws on natural resources, the company said, without giving details.

China Shenhua plans to spend 148 billion yuan to double its coal output by 2015, the South China Morning Post reported in August, citing Company Secretary Huang Qing. That includes two new mines at a cost of 100 billion yuan in Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Shaanxi province, the newspaper said.

The producer is also targeting a "gradual transition" to greener energy and seeks to become a "pioneer of low-carbon clean technology and supplier of low-carbon clean energy," according to the company.