Belt and Road Initiative to boost listed companies' profits
Source: Xinhua 2017-03-10 17:33:47
BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Listed companies are expected to see profits grow this year as the Belt and Road Initiative advances steadily, Shanghai Securities News quoted analysts as saying.
Companies in the infrastructure construction and energy sectors are among the first group of listed companies to benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative this year, said He Xin, analyst with Huatai Securities.
Boosted by rising demand for power equipment along the Belt and Road, energy equipment producer Tebian Electric Apparatus Stock Co.(TBEA) made breakthroughs in its international business last year with newly signed overseas orders totaling more than 3 billion U.S. dollars., said He.
Additionally, companies in the infrastructure construction sector are also expected to increase profits this year as regional connectivity was highlighted as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Haitong Securities.
A trans-continental cargo link connecting eastern and central Asia with Europe, known as the "China Railway Express," has raised interest among companies that want to transport Chinese products to Europe while tapping markets along the Belt and Road routes, and freight volume has increased substantially.
The Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by China in 2013 in the hope of creating a trade and infrastructure network to connect Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes.
The Belt and Road Initiative has won support from over 100 countries and international organizations, with nearly 50 cooperation agreements signed between governments, said He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.
To further strengthen cooperation, China will host a high-level forum on the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing in May.
Interview: Belt and Road Initiative helps Saudi Arabia realize "Saudi Vision 2030" -- ambassador
Source: Xinhua
EIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is expected to make "creative" contributions to helping Saudi Arabia realize its "Saudi Vision 2030" plan, Saudi Ambassador to China Turki Bin Mohamed Al-Mady has said.
"Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to China's Belt and Road Initiative," Al-Mady told Xinhua in a recent interview, referring to the initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
In recent years, with great complementarity in their industrial structures and wide common interests in economy and trade, the two countries have furthered cooperation in such fields as energy, trade, investment and infrastructure construction.
A New Baby Boom Is Happening in China’s Smaller Cities
Bloomberg News
March 16, 2017
China’s smaller cities are struggling to cope with a baby boom after the nation ended its one-child policy in 2015, demonstrating that it’s too early to further relax the new two-child ceiling.
So says lawmaker Sun Xiaomei, who criticizes calls for an immediate easing of the current two-child policy, and says her visits to small cities and towns showed her that already-stretched hospitals, pediatricians and kindergartens are finding it hard to cope with increased births.
In one district of the western Sichuan province, a vaccination center Sun visited was so crowded she wasn’t able to enter. In Ulan Hot in Inner Mongolia a hospital didn’t have mobile beds to move women from the labor ward, and used wooden stretchers instead, she said.
In such places medical and education facilities are strained to breaking point, she said. Parents have to make appointments and wait for days to vaccinate their children at a congested clinic in Sichuan’s Pidu county, a district of half a million people, Sun said.
In Ulan Hot, the local government recently reassigned a building to the city’s maternal and child care hospital to help cope with an overflow of women in labor, she said. A shortage of pediatricians can’t be turned around quickly because it takes seven years to train one, she said.
The Board of Directors of Tat Hong Holdings Ltd wishes to inform that its 84.6% indirectly-owned subsidiary, Tat Hong Zhaomao Investment Co., Ltd (“THZMI”), has acquired 23,000 shares in the capital of China Nuclear Huaxing Tat Hong Machinery Construction Co., Ltd (“HXTH”) (“HXTH Shares”) from Mr Gao Song, the minority shareholder, for a cash consideration of RMB 26,580 or approximately S$5,400 (the “Transaction”).
HXTH was incorporated in the People’s Republic of China (“China”) and conducts the principal activities of the rental of construction machinery and heavy lifting equipment (primarily tower cranes), equipment installation as well as the provision of related engineering services and supplies in China.
As HXTH is a profitable company and as the prospects for the tower crane rental business in China remain healthy in the near to medium term, THZMI agreed to acquire Mr Gao’s entire interest comprising 23,000 HXTH Shares upon Mr Gao’s request.
The Transaction was conducted at arm’s length on a willing buyer, willing seller basis and the consideration took into account HXTH’s net asset value as at 31 March 2016. The acquisition of the HXTH Shares brought THZMI’s effective interest in HXTH from 99.99% to 100% and the Company’s effective interest from 84.6% to 84.61%.
The Transaction is not expected to have any material impact on the Group’s earnings per share or net tangible assets per share for the financial year ending 31 March 2017.
None of the directors or controlling shareholders has any interest in the Transaction except through their respective shareholdings in the Company and/or through their directorships in the Company and/or THZMI.
CNMC buying another mine
Gold miner CNMC Goldmine Holdings is proposing to acquire 100% of KelGold Mining for RM2.5 million ($0.8 million) in cash. If the transaction is completed, KelGold will be CNMC’s third mining asset in Malaysia. In a filing with the exchange on March 20, CNMC noted that KelGold has obtained the rights to explore for iron ore, gold and other minerals in a 15.5 sq km area in the state of Kelantan. The company is also in the midst of renewing its rights to explore for gold and other minerals in an 8.7 sq km area, also in Kelantan. This deal comes a month after CNMC acquired a majority 51% stake in Pulai Mining, which is authorised to mine gold, iron ore and feldspar on a brownfield site of 38.4 sq km in Kelantan.
“This concession looks promising, as reconnaissance exploration work carried out by our in-house exploration team in parts of KelGold’s areas uncovered interesting gold grades,” says Chris Lim, CEO of CNMC. “We are still going full steam ahead at Sokor, where exploration and production are ongoing. At the same time, we have started preliminary geological exploration activities at Pulai Mining to find mineral resources. Over time, we expect greater economies of scale and operational efficiency as we keep growing our mining operations in Kelantan.” CNMC’s flagship Sokor gold mine is located close to both the Pulai Mining and KelGold sites.
Shares in CNMC rose 1.3% from March 14 to 21. It closed at 40 cents on March 21. Our total returns since the portfolio was initiated on Jan 4, including dividends and both realised and unrealised profits and losses, now stand at $11,263.47, or 5.6%. We are still lagging behind the STI, which has gained 8.6% in the same period.
This article appears in Issue 772 (March 27) of The Edge Singapore
100,000 housing units to be built next to Kallang River in next 20 years
Good news for those who have always wanted to live near a river: A total of 100,000 new residential units will be built next to Kallang River over the next 20 years.
Minister for National Development Mr Lawrence Wong said the new home units will be within 2km of both sides of the Kallang River, with Kampong Bugis being one of the key residential precincts.
He made the announcement Wednesday (Mar 29) at the launch of 'A River Runs Through It', an exhibition on the rejuvenation of Kallang River by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
The Kampong Bugis area is about 17 hectares in size, and is envisioned as a new residential precinct "that is people-centric and car-lite", said Mr Wong.
Also primed to be developed into a new waterfront housing area is Kallang Distripark, said the URA in a statement on Wednesday. As such, URA said it will introduce "vibrant commercial and recreational nodes along the river to provide more avenues for both work and play."
Older industrial estates can be transformed into new mixed-use areas, said Mr Wong in his speech this morning.
