BYD has no immediate plans for share sale

    BYD Co., the Warren Buffett-backed Chinese carmaker, said Friday it has no immediate plans to sell new shares in Hong Kong.

    On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that BYD planned to sell new shares worth as much as 20 percent of its Hong Kong-listed shares and had submitted an application to China’s securities watchdog. “We do not have such a plan now,” a BYD spokeswoman said. “This is pure speculation.” There have been rumors since last year about a possible BYD share issuance plan, but they are not true, she said.

    SAIC Motor to pay out high dividends

    SAIC Motor Corp., China’s biggest automaker, said Friday it would boost its dividend payout, offsetting concern of the company’s slower revenue growth projection.

    SAIC, which owns ventures with Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co., said in its 2013 earnings report that it planned to pay investors a cash dividend of 12 yuan (US$1.93) for every 10 shares held. That represents a dividend yield of 9 percent, compared with 4 percent a year earlier and an average among Chinese listed companies of 1 percent to 2 percent, said Capital Securities analyst Wan Dong.

    China Merchants Bank profit up 14.3%

    CHINA Merchants Bank Co., the nation’s sixth-largest lender, said Friday its 2013 profit rose 14.3 percent from a year earlier, driven by growth in interest income and higher fees.

    The bank said its profit was 51.7 billion yuan (US$8.5 billion) in 2013, up from 45.27 billion yuan a year earlier. The bank’s net interest income rose 12 percent year on year to 98.9 billion yuan and net fee and commission income climbed 48 percent year on year to 29.18 billion yuan. Its net interest margin, the difference of interest rates paid and received, fell to 2.82 percentage points in 2013 from 3.03 a year earlier.

    Haitong Securities profit rises 33%

    HAITONG Securities Co. said Saturday that its 2013 net profit rose 33 percent from a year earlier, thanks to an increase in security broking income from margin trading as well as higher investment gains.

    Net profit was 4.04 billion yuan (US$652 million), up from 3.04 billion yuan a year earlier, China’s second-largest brokerage by assets said in its audited annual earnings report to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Revenue rose 14 percent to 10.45 billion yuan from 9.14 billion yuan a year earlier.