Sunday AMID market concern over mainland-related stocks' financial health, H share Yizheng Chemical Fibre joins other China plays, including Nanjing Panda Electronics, in issuing a loss warning. Blaming low gross margins and oversupply, Yizheng, the fourth-largest polyester-maker in the world, says it might have incurred a loss last year.
(SCMP) SINO Land has sold 260 units of 338 offered in two blocks of Island Harbourview flats above the Olympic MTR station. The response and prices were down on the project's November launch. Agents say buying sentiment has faded because of worries over the economy and the stock market. (SCMP) Monday THE SAR's unemployment rate has risen 0.3 per cent to 5.8 per cent in the three months to December 1998. The number of jobless, at 201,000, is the highest ever recorded. Hardest hit sectors include construction, manufacturing, import-export and consumption-related industries. Economists expect unemployment to peak at 6 or 7 per cent this year. (SCMP) BRITISH-based bus operator Stagecoach's announcement to purchase almost 60 per cent of Citybus Group for about $1.31 billion will allow it to compete head-to-head in Hong Kong with long-time British rival FirstGroup. The latter has beaten Stagecoach in a bid for 88 bus routes it operates with New World Development. (SCMP) UNITED STATES credit data company Trans Union has completed its stake purchase in Credit Information Service. Hang Seng and HSBC are expected to join the company as shareholders by March, allowing them to share credit card information with other financial institutions. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority last year suggested banks form a credit information databank.
(Sing Tao) Tuesday SOURCES reveal Gitic's forced bankruptcy has stalled the expansion plan of McDonald's 50 per cent-held joint venture with the investment company in Guangdong. The joint venture has 26 fast food outlets in Guangzhou. The source says it is unlikely McDonald's will be able to buy Gitic's stake in the joint venture because of government regulation.
(Economic Journal) IN a last-minute move, Zhujiang Steel Pipe Holdings cancels its proposed $69 million listing although it has completed its public offering. Zhujiang said it would return all subscription monies to the investors. Stock exchange executive director Lawrence Fok Kwong-man strongly criticises the company's failure to explain the cancellation. (SCMP) THE International Monetary Fund has admitted it has made grave errors which may have exacerbated the Asian financial crisis. The fund says reforms in the worst-hit countries might fail and a sustainable return to growth cannot be assured. Reform programmes devised for Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea have failed to rapidly restore confidence in the region. (SCMP) Wednesday A SECURITIES and Futures Commission spokesman confirms the commission has started investigating alleged insider trading of Guangnan Holdings shares by a non-executive director. The director had sold 300,000 Guangnan shares a day ahead of the company's revelation that its debt exceeded $3 billion.
(Apple Daily) FORMER HSBC Holdings chairman Sir William Purves, a member of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's council of international advisers, says Hong Kong's economy is over-reliant on a small number of industries and needs to diversify to boost competitiveness.
(SCMP) ANALYSTS are surprised by the low occupancy and rental rates of several new office buildings developed by Swire Pacific's property division. The company says despite being on the market for more than six months, its joint-venture tower with China Motor Bus in North Point was only 10 per cent let, reflecting the increasingly difficult trading conditions in the office market. (SCMP) Thursday HONG KONG Macau International is understood to have difficulty repaying debt, with debt amounting to about $13 billion. The group's Hong Kong and Macau International Finance is alleged to be involved in illegal deposit-taking activities. (Ming Pao) DESPITE the failure of several mainland trust corporations, rating agency Standard & Poor's says Hong Kong's and Beijing's credit ratings will be maintained. S&P managing director, infrastructure finance Asia, Paul Coughlin, says the mainland's sovereign ratings will hinge on concerns over its fiscal deficit, the impact on state-owned enterprises on social stability and the withdrawal of lending by Japanese banks. (SCMP) MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter chairman Barton Biggs warns the Hong Kong dollar may face renewed speculative attack in the wake of the Brazilian real's devaluation, adding the mainland may also be forced to devalue the yuan. However, the investment bank's Asian arm releases a research report predicting the yuan will not devalue because of the Brazilian crisis.
