Earnings: Trina Firmly In Black, Weibo Stuck In Red

Weibo posts strong revenue growth

Investors were clearly focused on the bottom line in the newly released earnings for solar panel maker Trina (NYSE: TSL) and leading microblogging site Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), which are both trying hard to show they can post consistent profits on a long-term basis. For Trina the news was strong, as the company posted its third consecutive quarterly profit after several years of losses during a prolonged sector downturn. The prognosis was less stellar for Weibo, which posted a loss for the period even though the figure showed positive trends. Read Full Post…

News Digest: May 24-26

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 24-26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • ZTE, Huawei Win Bulk Of China Mobile’s 2nd Batch Of 4G Contracts -Sources (English article)
  • Video Sharing Site Xunlei Files To Raise Up To $100 Mln In New York IPO (Chinese article)
  • SNS Shopping Site Mogujie Lands $100 Mln In New Funding – Source (English article)
  • India Hits US, China With Solar Imports Anti-Dumping Duties (English article)
  • Chinese Carmaker BYD (HKEx: 1211) Offering $400m In New Shares (English article)
  • Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

New Beijing Clampdowns On Foreign Tech, Drugs

Foreign IT products come under scrutiny

Two news threads that started with relatively isolated moves are showing signs of becoming trends, with word that Beijing is taking new actions against overseas tech and drug firms. In the former case, media are reporting that China is preparing to roll out new security checks for all foreign IT products, in a move that looks aimed at the computing and telecoms sectors. The latter case has media reporting that investigators have visited the offices of Swiss drug giant Roche (Switzerland: ROG), which could auger more formal moves against the company for corrupt business practices. Read Full Post…

Bright’s Tnuva Buy: Trouble Ahead?

Bright in deal to buy Tnuva stake

More than 8 months after word of a potential tie-up first emerged, China’s Bright Food and leading Israeli dairy Tnuva have finally reached a deal that would see the former buy control of the latter. It’s not too surprising a deal of this magnitude took so long to conclude, and strategically such a move should be a positive development for Bright as it seeks to improve its internal management and global reach. But that said, I honestly can’t see this deal getting approved by security-obsessed Israel in its current form, which would put control of one of the country’s biggest food companies into Chinese hands. Read Full Post…

JD.com IPO Bumps Up, Chunkong Gets Yanked

JD celebrates solid trading debut

E-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) has formally ended its IPO process with a solid trading debut, capping a surprisingly strong performance despite signs that investors were rapidly losing interest in Chinese Internet stocks. But in a much lower profile move, smaller IPO candidate Chunkong Technology has quietly delayed its own New York offering plan, becoming the first formal casualty of fading sentiment. Chukong’s decision looks particularly significant because the company operates in the mobile gaming space, which is supposed to be one of the fastest-growth areas in China’s tech world. Read Full Post…

News Digest: May 23, 2014

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) Gains In Debut After Larger-Than-Planned IPO (English article)
  • China’s Bright Food To Buy Control Of Israel’s Tnuva To Boost Dairy Sales (English article)
  • Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) Announces Q1 Unaudited Results (PRNewswire)
  • China to Introduce Security Checks on Foreign IT Products (English article)
  • Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), Changhong Sign 3 Year, 26 Bln Yuan Supply Deal (Chinese article)
  • Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

JD Gets Strong Demand For IPO Shares

JD’s IPO prices strongly

It seems that e-commerce giant JD.com’s decision to move slowly with its massive IPO was a good one, with word that the company’s shares have priced quite strongly in their long march to market . JD made its first public filing for a New York IPO back in early February, meaning the process of listing will have taken more than 3 months when its shares start trading on Thursday. That’s a long time in any market, and especially long for the current one where investor sentiment towards Chinese Internet IPOs was rapidly fading. Read Full Post…

Cheesecake Picks Tasty China Partner In Maxim’s

Cheesecake Factory heads for China

When it comes to running restaurants in China, most foreign operators with any experience will say the most important step is finding the right partner to navigate both regulations and highly different tastes among Chinese diners. With that thought in mind, US restaurant stalwart The Cheesecake Factory (Nasdaq: CAKE) has picked one of the best partners possible in its newly announced decision to expand to Asia, with China as its most likely first destination. Cheesecake said it will enter the market with Maxim’s Caterers, one of Hong Kong’s most famous cake makers. Read Full Post…

Weibo: Qihoo’s Zhou Hunts Cheetah, Baidu; Techies Hype Huawei P7

Qihoo goes hunting for Cheetahs

Qihoo 360’s (NYSE: QIHU) controversial founder Zhou Hongyi was buzzing through the microblogging realm this week, attacking online search archrival Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) in one instance as he was accused by a former employee in another case of attacking Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM), a rival in the security software business. Meantime, telecoms giant Huawei was generating some rare upbeat buzz for its latest smartphone, the P7, getting several high-profile tech executives to hype the model in what looks like a page from the playbook of marketing-savvy smartphone rival Xiaomi. Read Full Post…

News Digest: May 22, 2014

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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New Front Opens In Piracy War With Massive Fine

Shenzhen levies massive fine in piracy case

When the history books are written, the month of May 2014 could go down as a watershed in the Chinese battle against piracy. An obscure Shenzhen company could also be part of the story, following reports that the firm Kuaibo Technology has been fined a whopping 260 million yuan ($42 million) by the city government for repeated piracy. Then again, it’s also quite possible and likely that Kuaibo will simply shut its doors to avoid paying the fine, and then re-open nearby using another name and company registration. Read Full Post…