Leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and top telecoms equipment maker Huawei have both just announced their latest quarterly results, reflecting slowing growth both at home and abroad that each will have to deal with as the global and Chinese economies struggle. But whereas Huawei’s story looks rather dire, Baidu was able to post some solid advertising numbers, showing it remains resistant so far to a downturn that has affected many of its rivals.
News Digest: July 24, 2012 报摘： 2012年7月24日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Announces Q2 Results (PRNewswire)
- CNOOC (HKEx: 883) to buy Nexen for $15.1 billion in China’s largest foreign deal (English article)
- Huawei Releases 2012 H1 Results; Sales Revenue of 102.7 Billion Yuan (company announcement)
- Nearly 10,000 Taobao Merchants Closing Each Day: Report (Chinese article)
- New Oriental Education (NYSE: EDU) Sued by Investors Over SEC Investigation (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Telcos: China Mobile Slips, Unicom Rises 电信业半年回顾：中国移动滑落 联通顺势崛起
As we reach this year’s halfway point and companies start reporting their mid-year results, I wanted to take a quick look at China’s telecoms landscape and some of the major highlights over the first half of the year, including a recent surge by China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), the country’s second largest mobile carrier. China’s 3 telcos, Unicom, China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), all released their June subscriber totals late last week, revealing some subtle but interesting changes from the beginning of the year as the trio look to develop third-generation (3G) mobile services that are the wave of the future.
Doubts Linger on New Oriental, Citic Securities 新东方和中信证券料将面临更多动荡
I’d like to start off this Monday with a brief apology for my own erratic writing these last few days, as I’ve been traveling in the US and my schedule has become a bit spotty. But that said, I’ll begin this sunny Monday in Los Angeles with some postscripts to items I wrote about last week on troubled education services firm New Oriental (NYSE EDU) and leading Chinese brokerage Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030; Shanghai: 600030), neither of which is inspiring much confidence in investors these days.
News Digest: July 20, 2012 报摘： 2012年7月20日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 20. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) Responds to Rumors of Financial Problems (English article)
- Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) to Pay $310 Mln For CLSA Stake, May Buy Rest (English article)
- New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) Announces Senior Management Share Purchase Plan (PRNewswire)
- Germany Mulls Solar Panel Anti-Dumping Suit vs China (English article)
- China Telcos Announce June 2012 Subscriber Totals (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Citic Securities, Banks See Brief Uptick 中信证券和银行业的“昙花一现”
Stock markets are often said to be leading indicators of things to come, a factor that could explain why top Chinese brokerage Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) has just posted relatively strong financial results in the first half of the year despite a rapidly weakening stock market. The newly released report from Citic Securities shows the company’s profit attributable to owners of its parent fell 24.5 percent in the first half of 2012, while its earnings per share fell more sharply by 33 percent. (HKEx announcement) While neither of those numbers sounds very impressive, both are an improvement over the company’s 36 percent drop in first-quarter profit, indicating that its situation may be stabilizing after a weak stock market performance hit its results in 2011.
Mobile Internet Passes the Desktop 手机成中国网民最大上网终端
A government agency has just released data showing that mobile Internet users in China have passed traditional desktop users for the first time, posing an interesting challenge for all players that have typically designed their products for people who surf the web from fixed-line PCs at home and in Internet cafes. This move reminds me of a similar shift to mobile from desktop computing now taking place worldwide that is dealing a blow to former PC giants Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which have long dominated the desktop computing arena but are having trouble in the mobile space.
News Digest: July 19, 2012 报摘： 2012年7月19日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) Announces Preliminary H1 Results (HKEx announcement)
- Yum’s (NYSE: YUM) Profit Disappoints, Hurt By China Costs (English article)
- ZTE (HKEx: 763) Wins China Mobile Hong Kong TD-LTE Tender (English article)
- New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) Gains After Refuting Muddy Waters’ Charges (English article)
- China Mouthpiece Xinhua Reports 5.6 Billion Yuan Revenue in 2011 (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
New Oriental Gets Accounting Lesson 新东方受到会计调查
Tuesday was not a kind day to US-listed Chinese companies, as education specialist New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) led a downward charge that saw its shares go into free-fall, losing a third of their value, after it released its latest quarterly results. But investors weren’t focused on the results themselves, which were actually quite respectable, but rather got spooked by a note near the bottom of the announcement saying the company was being investigated by the US securities regulator for its accounting practices. (results announcement)
News Digest: July 18, 2012 报摘： 2012年7月18日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Removed From the Nasdaq 100 Index, Shares Tumble (Chinese article)
- ZTE (HKEx: 763) Denies Rumors of Large-Scale Overseas Layoffs (English article)
- VisionChina Media (Nadaq: VISN) Receives Nasdaq De-Listing Notification (Chinese article)
- New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) Announces Unaudited Results for the Fiscal Quarter (PRNewswire)
- China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Prepares to Make First Tender for TD-LTE Handsets (Chinese article)
- Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
China’s Hawker Aircraft Buy Hits Turbulence 中国公司收购豪客比奇遭遇动荡
In what should come as a surprise to no one, a deal announced last week for a little-known Chinese firm to buy bankrupt US aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft has already hit its first turbulence with objections from a major trade union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. This objection is only the first of many that I expect to see in this case, not only from the US but also from skeptical Chinese regulators, meaning this deal is almost guaranteed to fail. Let’s look at this first big obstacle, which comes just a week after Superior Aviation Beijing, partly owned by the Beijing municipal government, said it was in exclusive talks to buy Hawker for up to $1.8 billion. (previous post)
