China Glass Holdings issued a profit warning yesterday, just 24 hours after holding a press conference to announce how it had acquired a controlling interest in seven rival domestic companies and that it aimed to become the country's largest glass exporter.
In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange the company, whose stock had been suspended from trading for three days, said it would record a 'substantial decrease' in profit for last year because of a downturn in the mainland's glass industry.
The downturn had affected the operating performance of enterprises across the entire industry, the statement said, without giving financial details.
China Glass added that it had reported a profit of 64.82 million yuan for 2004 and 16.03 million yuan for the first half of last year.
On Tuesday the company said it would pay 416 million yuan through a joint venture with subsidiaries of Legend Holdings and Pilkington for control of the seven rival firms.
At the time, board member Zhang Zhao Hang admitted that the industry was subject to cycles, adding that 2004 and last year had marked a low point. He made no mention of last year's figures, although he said he was optimistic profit 'would not drop drastically' this year.
