Baosteel buys back shares

Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd, the nation's largest listed steel maker, said it has bought back a total of 424,440,408 shares as of Monday, accounting for 2.4 percent of its total capital.

The Shanghai-based company has paid 1.97 billion yuan ($312.94 million) for the shares. Each share cost between 4.51 and 5 yuan, it said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Baosteel said in an earlier earnings forecast that the company expected to generate 191.5 billion yuan in revenue for 2012, down 14.08 percent year-on-year, but that its net profit might rise 39.98 percent year-on-year to 10.3 billion yuan.

Baosteel said on August 2012 it would buy back 1 billion outstanding shares at a maximum price of 5 yuan per share, becoming the first listed State-owned company to buy back shares in recent years.

Boosted by the repurchase plan, Baosteel's stock price rose 0.58 percent to close at 5.16 yuan per share on Tuesday.

wang_ying@chinadaily.com.cn