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Anticipation of Q3 performance mixed

By Yu Hongyan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-10-07 11:13

Domestic listed companies are wrapping up with their performance forenotices for the third quarter, as they are expected to release their performance reports of the third quarter this week, while reports of first three quarters performance from more than 1,600 listed companies are bound to follow within the month.

By October 5, a total of 608 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange had published forenotices on their performance during the first three quarters, according to the Shanghai Securities News.

Among the companies, 323 evaluate their performance so far as positive, accounting for 53.13 percent of the total. 191 companies expect they had a growth in profit, 92 predict their performance has improved, and 40 report a turn in gains.

A total of 239 companies predict performance was gloomy: 60 companies expect to see a decline in performance 42 expect to see a slight decrease; 60 say they continue to lose and 77 believe they confront a deficit for the first time while 46 companies are uncertain about their performance over the three quarters,

Performance forenotices look mixed in the market, however, experts say that the overall performance in the market should be more optimistic than the current forecast, as reports from the well performing blue chip companies have not been revealed and those that have released their performances are small and medium sized companies, more sensitive to external influences.

On net profit growth, 13 companies anticipate a growth rate to be 500 percent above the same period last year, with 10 of them attributing the expected growth to the increase of prime operating revenue. A noticeable point is among the 13 companies, only one cropped earning per share above 0.1 yuan (5 cents) last year, which means that their dramatic growth rates are mainly achieved on the low comparison base.

The breakdown of industries indicates that coal and steel industries will continue the inertial growth in the first three quarters.

All the 13 coal companies that have published their performance forecasts expect a high growth rate, 10 of which may see a 100 percent growth compared with the same period last year.

As for the steel industry, the three companies that released their performance forenotices all predict substantial increases, with boosts of sales volume and an upsurge of sales prices as the main contributors.

Coal price hikes benefit the coal companies but harm the closely linked power entities. Statistics show that 17 power companies are estimated to take a loss, including power giant, Huaneng Power International and Huadian Power International Corporation Limited.

Meanwhile, performances vary within the property, electrics and textile industries. Of the 28 property companies that released their performance reports, 11 foresee a gloomy performance due to a slide in profits. Half of the companies in the electrics and textile industries respectively expect they have declined in their performance.