In Brief

first dozen mount beacon flats to reap $265m

Sino Land is expected to cash in about $265 million from the pre-sales of its first batch of luxury residential apartments at Mount Beacon in Kowloon Tong, according to the price list released last night. The developer launched 12 flats, ranging in size from 1,137 square feet to 1,950 sq ft, at $13.42 million to $30.03 million each, or $11,700 to 15,400 per square foot.

as watson takeover of merchant accepted

AS Watson yesterday said its GBP221.9 million ($3.03 billion) takeover of the Merchant Retail Group has succeeded after 88 per cent of the existing issued share capital of the British perfume seller accepted the offer as of Wednesday.

csmc technologies issues profit warning

Mainland chipmaker CSMC Technologies Corp last night issued a profit warning for its upcoming interim results, saying it expected to record a loss due primarily to flat orders and softer average selling prices as well as higher depreciation and increasing amortisation costs.

mittal bid approved

Mittal Steel's 2.79 billion yuan bid for a 36 per cent stake in state-owned Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire has been approved by China's National Development and Reform Commission, the Xinhua Agency reported last night.

neo-china profit jumps

Mainland developer Neo-China Group (Holdings) saw net profit soar 18 times year on year to $180.45 million for the year to April. Turnover surged 728 times to $476.47 million, thanks to property sales in Beijing last year.

china eastern warning

China Eastern Airlines yesterday issued a profit warning ahead of its results for the first six months to due to surging jet fuel costs. It made a net profit of 582.47 million yuan in the first half last year.

fund raising approved

Maanshan Iron & Steel has received shareholders' approval to raise up to two billion yuan by issuing one-year debentures within 12 months.