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Zijin shines on Shanghai trading debut

By Jin Jing and Hu Meidong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-26 09:14

Shares in Zijin Mining Group Co, the country's largest gold producer, ended up almost 100 percent on their first day of trading in Shanghai on Friday, exceeding analysts' forecasts.

Zijin's share price leapt as much as 202.95 percent in afternoon trading, before a 30-minute suspension in trading was requested by Shanghai Stock Exchange due to the stock's "abnormal upswing".

It finally closed at 13.92 yuan ($1.98), 95.23 percent higher than the offer price of 7.13 yuan. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.71 percent to close at 3557.75.

Analysts had expected Zijin to reach around 10 yuan on its first day of trading.

Zijin has raised 10 billion yuan by selling 1.4 billion new shares at 7.13 yuan each, which was 41 times its 2007 diluted earnings, the company said in a statement to the exchange.

"The stock market rebound on Thursday boosted investor sentiment for IPOs," said Li Jing, an analyst at Founder Securities.

"But the company's high price is not sustainable, and a reasonable level should be between 10 and 12 yuan," said Li.

Zijin's price-to-earnings ratio on Friday was around 80 times, while the average ratio of gold companies was around 25 to 30 times on the international market, analysts said.

Analysts said Zijin's overseas expansion strategy and increased global gold demand will guarantee the firm annual growth of around 30 percent.

Zijin said that it would invest 4.92 billion yuan of the proceeds from the IPO in expansion projects, including acquisitions in the United Kingdom and Tajikistan, while the remaining proceeds would be used to repay bank loans or serve as working capital.

"We will speed up exploration of the international market and maintain fast and continuous growth in corporate earnings," said Chen Jinhe, chairman of Zijin Mining.

Chen had previously said the company would expand its resource exploration and acquisitions, and develop its business in copper, zinc, steel and nickel.

Zijin's copper production ranks third in China and its zinc production is the sixth largest in the nation. Its gold output was 52.29 tons in 2007, and its earnings were around 2.39 billion yuan, according to statistics from the China Gold Association.

"Zijin's production costs are relatively lower than its overseas competitors. And the weak performance of the US dollar and expected large domestic demand will combine to result in a strong gold price," said Li.