China Railway 2012 net profits up 9.9%

BEIJING -- China Railway Group Limited (China Railway), the listed subsidiary of the China Railway Engineering Corporation, anounced late Thursday that its net profits surged 9.94 percent year on year in 2012 thanks to increasing orders.

The Beijing-based company, whose parent company is China's largest civil construction company directly supervised by the cabinet, saw its net profits rise 9.94 percent year on year to 7.35 billion yuan ($1.17 billion), according to its annual report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The company's total business revenues increased 5 percent to 482.69 billion yuan, with basic earnings per share up 12.9 percent to 0.35 yuan, the company said.

The value of the company's total assets amounted to 550.73 billion yuan, an increase of 17.49 percent from the previous year.

China Railway attributed its rising revenues to growing new orders and the timely completion of its projects.

The new contracts the company signed in 2012 were valued at 731 billion yuan, up 28.1 percent year on year, according to the annual report.

Industry insiders said robust fixed-asset investment in railways during the second half of last year greatly improved the company's performance from the first half, when its net profits dipped 2.18 percent year on year.

During the second half, the now-defunct Ministry of Railways raised the sector's yearly target for fixed asset investment three times. In December alone, the railway sector received a total fixed asset investment of 124 billion yuan, according to calculations done by the Shanghai Securities News based on ministry data.

China Railway predicted it will earn 455.3 billion yuan of operating revenues in 2013, buoyed by the recovering economy and favorable policies, including a strong urbanization drive.

The company's stock rose 1.08 percent to 2.82 yuan per share as of 10:40 am Friday.