Monday, 16 August 2010

Logger China Asean gains 5pc; Elray price halves despite find


via Khmer NZ

Monday, 16 August 2010 15:00 Catherine James

LOGGING firm China Asean Resources, which is awaiting shareholder approval to buy its third forestry concession in Cambodia, saw its share price rise more than 5 percent in Hong Kong trading last week.

The company reported a net loss of HK$5.7 million (US$0.73 million) for the first half, an improvement of HK$13.4 million on its first-half loss last year, in a second-quarter announcement.

Its turnover significantly rose in the period, increasing to HK$690,000 from HK$30,000.

“The increase was due to more sales of wood products in Cambodia,” the company’s directors said in the report. However, they acknowledged that the results from the period were weak.

“The board attributes the poor performance to a lack of funding for capital expenditure and working capital,” the report said.

Shares on the Growth Market Enterprise Exchange – a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for companies with riskier assets – rose 5.26 percent to close the week at HK$0.076, after opening at HK$0.072 on Monday. The stock has lost 55.3 percent of its value in the past year.

Meanwhile, Elray Resources, a junior miner active in the Kingdom, saw its shares decline more than 50 percent in over-the-counter trading last week, despite having announced the discovery of a “very important gold-bearing structure” on an Ecuador tenement Wednesday.

The firm, which is exploring concessions in both Ecuador and Cambodia, closed Friday at $0.055, down 54.17 percent from the start of the week.

NestlĂ©, the world’s largest food company, which sells a range of products in the Kingdom, reported a 7.5 percent jump in net profits in the first half of 2010 on Wednesday. Profit rose to 5.4 billion Swiss francs (US$5.1bn) from 5 billion francs a year earlier.

It attributed deeper distribution and the rollout of cheaper products in emerging markets, such as Indochina, as key to its strong results.

Listed on the Swiss Exchange, its shares fell 0.96 percent on Wednesday, in line with Swiss stocks as markets reacted worldwide to Tuesday night’s announcement from the United States Federal Reserve that the United States recovery was weaker than anticipated.

However Nestlé bounced back on Thursday and closed 2.94 percent higher over the week from 51 francs on Monday to 52.5 francs on Friday.

No comments: