Briefs, October 26, 2012

Shale gas auction attracts 152 bids

The mainland's second round of shale gas auctions drew 152 bids from 83 companies as non-state firms were allowed to take part for the first time. China, which has the world's biggest shale gas reserves, has yet to produce the fuel commercially. The blocks auctioned cover 20,002 square kilometres across eight provinces. Bloomberg
 

Citic Telecom eyes C&W stake in Macau firm

Citic Telecom International, a unit of Citic Pacific, may pay up to US$750 million for Cable & Wireless Communications' 51 per cent stake in Macau phone operator Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, two people familiar with the negotiations said. Bloomberg
 

Results roundup

Net profit at Great Wall Motor jumped 50.58 per cent to 3.84 billion yuan (HK$4.77 billion) for the nine months to September. Revenue rose 37.83 per cent to 29.46 billion yuan on growing car sales. Yvonne Liu

• Datang International Power Generation's net profit surged 101.82 per cent to 716 million yuan in the third quarter. Net profit for the first nine months jumped 49 per cent to 1.8 billion yuan. Yvonne Liu
   
• China Oilfield Services, the mainland's top offshore oil and gas drilling services provider, posted a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in third-quarter net profit to 1.43 billion yuan. Revenues jumped 22.4 per cent to 6.07 billion yuan. Eric Ng
   
• At Cosco Pacific, the terminals subsidiary of Cosco, China's largest shipping company, net profit rose 3.9 per cent to US$98.2 million in the third quarter. The company said container throughput growth slowed as a result of global economic conditions. Keith Wallis
   
• Third-quarter earnings of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen, target of a US$15.1 billion takeover bid by China's CNOOC, plunged about 85 per cent to C$59 million (HK$461 million) from a year earlier. Net sales rose about 7 per cent to C$1.5 billion. Reuters