omniture

Guangshen Railway Announces 2008 Interim Results

Guangshen Railway Company Limited
2008-08-27 21:57 1276


Volumes of Passenger and Freight Transportation Increase,

But Net Profit Decreases Due to Increase in Finance Costs

-- Operating revenues increased by 18.83% year-on-year to RMB5,620

million.

-- Profit from operations increased by 7.91% year-on-year to RMB924

million.

-- Profit attributable to equity holders amounted to RMB674 million

(2007 interim: RMB746 million).

HONG KONG, Aug. 27 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Guangshen Railway Company Limited ("Guangshen Railway" or the "Company") (HKEx Share Code: 525; SSE Share Code: 601333; American Depositary Shares ("ADS") Ticket Symbol: GSH) today announced the unaudited interim results of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") for the six months ended June 30, 2008 (the "Period").

During the Period, operating revenues of the Group amounted to RMB5,620 million, representing an increase of 18.83% over the corresponding period of 2007. Profit from operations increased by 7.91% year-on-year to RMB924 million. Profit attributable to equity holders amounted to RMB674 million (2007 interim: RMB746 million). The board of directors of the Company does not recommend the payment of any interim dividend for 2008.

Mr. He Yuhua, Chairman of the Company said, "In the first half of 2008, the Company minimized the negative impact caused by the heavy rains and snowstorm at the beginning of the year upon the operation of railway transportation through implementing measures to increase traffic and revenues, consolidating and optimizing transportation resources and improving transportation efficiency. The Company achieved safety and stability in its operation of transportation as well as a stable growth in transportation revenues. Profit attributable to equity holders decreased year-on-year due to an increase in both finance costs and income tax expenses over the corresponding period last year."

During the Period, passenger delivery volume of the Company was 40.87 million, a year-on-year increase of 16.73%. Revenue from passenger transportation rose 21.98% year-on-year to RMB3,262 million. Of such amount, the passenger delivery volumes of Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains, Hong Kong Through Trains and long-distance trains amounted to 15.57 million, 1.56 million and 23.74 million respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 53.66%, 3.79% and 1.56% respectively and realising revenues of RMB962 million, RMB192 million and RMB2,107 million respectively.

Passenger delivery volume and revenue of Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains increased mainly due a significant increase in the frequency and capacity of Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains resulted from two adjustments to the train schedules. In addition, after one year of operation of the CRHs, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains have further established its advantages. The fact that the Qingming Festival, the May Day and the Dragon Boat Festival have become statutory holidays also led to an increase in short-distance passenger traffic on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains. Meanwhile, with the optimization and consolidation of the transportation resources of Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Pingshi Railway, the connection between Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains and long-distance trains has been running more smoothly and efficiently.

In respect of long-distance trains, despite the heavy rains and snowstorm at the beginning of the year, which led to a substantial decrease in delivery volume of long-distance passengers during the Spring Festival Holidays, passenger delivery volume and revenue increased slightly during the Period. The growth was mainly attributable to a year-on-year increase in transportation capacity resulted from the successful commencement of operation of trains from Guangzhou to Shanghai, from Guangzhou to Xi’an and from Shenzhen to Shaoguan. Furthermore, the Qingming Festival Holidays, the May Day Holidays and the Dragon Boat Festival Holidays led to a substantial increase in the number of passengers traveling between cities within the Pan Pearl River Delta.

During the Period, tonnage of freight transported by the Company increased by 8.86% year-on-year to 34.55 million tonnes; and revenues from freight transportation increased by 14.15% year-on-year to RMB636 million. The increase in freight revenues of the Company was mainly attributable to certain increases in per tonne-kilometer tariffs. Additionally, the completion of the Fourth Rail Line between Guangzhou and Shenzhen led to an obvious increase in inbound freight for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, which together the increase in delivery of high-tariff goods contributed to the increase in freight revenues.

During the Period, despite the increase in volumes and revenues of passenger and freight transportation and the fact that the Company has dedicated to implementing measures to control costs and expenses, profit attributable to equity holders decreased year-on-year due to a decline in revenues in the first quarter as a result of the heavy rains and snowstorm at the beginning of this year and the continuous increase in the prices of railway-related production materials.

Looking forward to the Company’s development in the second half of 2008, Mr. He said, "The Company’s stable development of the entire transportation business will face a mixed condition with opportunities and challenges. The optimization of industry structure driven by the economic momentum of the Pearl River Delta region and further implementation of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (the "CEPA") will bring about more opportunities for the operation and development of the Company. However, the Company will continue to face pressure resulting from the increase in prices of production materials. The Company will strictly control various costs and expenses and take effective measures to boost transportation traffic and revenues to mitigate the effects of the heavy rains and snowstorm at the beginning of the year and price hikes of production materials. As to the passenger transportation business, the Company will utilize the transportation capacity of the Fourth Rail Line between Guangzhou and Shenzhen and the "CRH" train sets, optimize the "As-frequent-as-buses" operation model of our Guangzhou-Shenzhen trains, and vigorously expand the long-distance passenger transportation business. Furthermore, the Company will attract more passengers during summer vacation, the Mid-autumn Holidays and the National Day Holidays to further increase the occupation rate of passenger trains, with a view to fully accelerating the business growth of the Company."

Guangshen Railway Company Limited was established in 1996. The H shares and ADS issued by the Company were listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the New York Stock Exchange respectively in May 1996. The Company is currently the only PRC railway enterprise with its shares listed overseas. In December 2006, the Company returned to the A share market and successfully listed its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Company holds the sole operating rights of the Guangshen Railway, one of the most modern railways in the PRC. The Company is mainly engaged in railway passenger and freight transportation businesses between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, long-distance passenger transportation services, as well as the Hong Kong Through Train passenger service in cooperation with Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC") of Hong Kong. As at June 30, 2008, the Company operated 216 pairs of passenger trains in accordance with its daily train schedule, including 100 pairs of high-speed trains between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, 103 pairs of long-distance trains, and 13 pairs of Guangzhou-Hong Kong through-trains.

Please refer to the hyperlink below for the Extract of Consolidated Income Statement of the Company http://xprnnews.xfn.info/gs/20080827/2008_Interim_E_R2_Table.pdf .

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Guo Xiangdong or Ms. Grace Deng

Guangshen Railway Company Limited

Tel: +86-755-2558-7920 or +86-755-2558-8146

Fax: +86-755-2559-1480

Ms. Edith Lui or Ms. Leona Zeng

Rikes Hill & Knowlton Limited

Tel: +852-2520-2201

Fax: +852-2520-2241

Source: Guangshen Railway Company Limited
Keywords: Travel
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