The many pitfalls of doing business in China have prompted the publication of a book that attempts to cut through the mind-boggling amounts of data coming out of the mainland and ease the pain of potential investors.
The China Companies Handbook 2005 covers 100 firms listed on the mainland, Hong Kong and United States stock markets, with analysis of the 20 sectors to which they belong and the key economic, social and financial themes.
The book is produced by Research-Works, with offices in Singapore and Shanghai, and Quantum Information Services of Mumbai. It is sponsored by Cazenove, a brokerage which has covered Hong Kong-listed stocks since 1974.
'There is a need for an independent investment guide to help investors first understand what the China markets have to offer and then have an understanding of how to navigate them,' the authors say.
To sift out dubious companies, they screened firms through quantitative and qualitative measures, using size, liquidity, track record and subjective factors. They waited for at least a year before including newly listed firms, allowing time for executive corruption and corporate skullduggery to come out.
Their next challenge was to check and verify the numbers from each company after they downloaded them from the internet. Each of the 100 firms has a page with its key data, share structure, profile, notes and detailed financial information, after a two-page analysis of their particular sector.