China Shenhua Energy Co. (1088), the
listed unit of the nation’s biggest coal producer, said it
expects 2012 sales volumes to surpass a target set at the end of
last year because of rising demand.
Coal sales may increase to 425 million metric tons, based
on the “positive results” seen in January and February,
Chairman Zhang Xiwu told reporters in Hong Kong today. The
company’s previous sales target was 411 million tons, he said.
The unit of Shenhua Group Corp. reported an 18 percent gain
in annual profit on March 23 as growing domestic demand drove
sale volumes to a record and prices soared to a three-year high.
Its earnings were also helped by the company’s 8.7 billion-yuan
($1.3 billion) acquisition of assets from its parent last year
that boosted recoverable coal reserves.
Shenhua is “seriously and actively” pushing for
additional asset injections from its parent, President Ling Wen
said at the media briefing, declining to give a timeline.
The company said March 1 that it will buy stakes in three
companies and rail cars from its parent for 3.45 billion yuan.
The purchase will reduce competition with Shenhua Group,
increase coal imports from Mongolia and better integrate
transportation networks for its coal-power business in Jiangsu
province, according to the unit.
Shenhua has fallen 4.9 percent in the past year in Hong
Kong trading, compared with the 10 percent drop in the benchmark
Hang Seng index. The stock declined 1.8 percent to HK$33.25 as
of the midday break.
Net income increased to 45.7 billion yuan in 2011, beating
a mean estimate of 45.4 billion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of 19
analysts. Benchmark coal prices in China, the world’s largest
user of the fuel, surged to 855 yuan a ton on Oct. 23, the
highest since Oct. 20, 2008.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Aibing Guo in Hong Kong at
aguo10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at
ahobbs4@bloomberg.net
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