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| Zhang Yanping, president of the Beijing Youth
Daily, poses for a picture in front of enlarged copies of the
newspaper at the headquarters in Beijing, China, in this Aug 25,
2004 photo. On Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004, the Youth Daily plans to
make history as the first state media outfit to sell shares
to foreign investors, with an initial public offering in Hong Kong.
(AP) |
Beijing Media, the Chinese mainland's first media
group company to list on an overseas stock exchange, made a robust debut
in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with its shares rocketing 19.8 per cent.
The shares closed at HK$22.70, compared to its initial public offering
price of HK$18.95. A total of 25.61 million shares worth HK$591.74 million
(US$75.9 million) were traded.
Beijing Media, the advertising unit of the popular Beijing Youth Daily,
raised up to HK$905 million (US$116 million) in its IPO through the sale
of 47.74 million H shares, or 25 per cent of its enlarged equity.
Zhang Yanping, chairman of Beijing Youth Daily, the parent company of
Beijing Media, said the management is very satisfied with the stock price
and feel very confident about the group's future development.
"The listing represents a general developing trend of China's media
industry," said Zhang.
Beijing Media's full-year profit is forecast to grow 26.8 per cent to
reach 194 million yuan (US$23.4 million), or 96 cents per share on a
pro forma basis. This
translates to a price earnings ratio of between 15.6 and 19.7 times.
In addition, Beijing Media has opened its doors to foreign investors,
with South Africa's largest media company, Naspers Ltd holding 9.9 per
cent of the shares, or nearly 40 per cent of the offering.
"We will work together with Naspers on TV development," Zhang said at a
listing ceremony. The two parties will start by working on technical
issues.
Meanwhile, Beijing Media's president Sun Wei said the group is in talks
with certain TV stations such as Beijing TV and China Central Television
(CCTV) to jointly launch new TV channels.
Sun said to broaden its advertising platform, the group plans to use
HK$180 million (US$23.1 million) of its IPO proceeds to launch a weekend
newspaper and develop a number of weekly magazines.
Asked about the concerns the group will be affected by property market
fluctuations as real estate
advertisements are the major source of its advertising revenue, Chairman
Zhang Yanping said he believed Beijing's property market will not see a
slowdown before the 2008 Olympic Games.
He is confident
the group's advertising revenue will achieve a substantial increase next
year.
(China Daily) | 
Updated: 2004-12-23 10:25