Renhe Commercial debut defies market slump with 4.4pc gain

Renhe Commercial Holdings, a mainland operator of underground shopping centres, defied a slumping market yesterday to gain 4.42 per cent in its trading debut.

Renhe shares closed at HK$1.18, up 5 HK cents from the offer price of HK$1.13, giving holders a paper profit, excluding expenses, of about HK$100 for each board lot of 2,000 shares.

Yiu Chin, a director of financial analysis at Altruist Financial Group, said that because only a handful of investors had bought the shares during the offering, subsequent selling pressure was minimal.

'That helped hold up Renhe's share price,' Mr Yiu said.

Renhe received 672 valid applications from retail investors for about 19.87 million shares, representing only 6.62 per cent of the 300 million shares initially set aside for the retail portion.

Based in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, Renhe logged revenue of 366.5 million yuan (HK$415.79 million) last year, up 125.32 per cent from a year earlier. Profit for the year surged 449.97 per cent to 266.68 million yuan, according to the company's prospectus.