After buying a 12% stake in Rio Tinto Plc in February, Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the largest producer of metal, said it will step up its overseas expansion to ensure sustainable growth through more access to mineral resources.
The company will jointly invest in more overseas mining projects with international mining companies. It also plans to spend 1 billion yuan on a 5% stake in a proposed project with AVIC Ⅰ’s Commercial Aircraft Co.
Chalco decides to acquire more local alumina processors, most of which are struggling as slim processing fees fail to offset increase in costs. “It’s a good time to merge with small alumina processors to expand Chalco’s processing capacity in 2008,” said Xiao Yaqing, chairman and CEO of Chalco. Chalco’s processing capacity is expected to reach 1.09 million tons in 2008, largely through mergers and acquisitions.
Chalco now is also seeking opportunities to expand into other metals such as titanium and copper since aluminum producers are supposed to diversify their businesses in the face of international competition.
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Alibaba.com is the largest business-to-business website, which started out helping millions of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises sell their goods on the internet.
Last year, the company’s revenue grew 58.6% to 2.16 billion yuan and its net profit surged 340% to 968 million yuan, which was attributed to the rise in the number of the company’s paying members and their increased averaged online consumption.
Despite the current economic slowdown at the global scale, Alibaba.com expected to see dynamic growth this year. “I think we will maintain fast growth this year because people in difficulties tend to diversify their product sourcing and supply in order to reduce risks,” said Wei Zhe, CEO of Alibaba.com.
According to Alibaba.com, 72% of the company’s revenue came from online trade between China and foreign countries and only 28% from trade within China. Revenue from domestic trade is expected to rise as China’s internal demands grow. Meanwhile, the company also has plans to open a joint venture with Softbank in Japan this year and increase its business presence in Europe and India to seek greater international opportunities.
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The world’s fourth largest computer maker Lenovo Group recently unveiled its notebook ThinkPad X300 in Beijing, hoping to regain ThinkPad’s reputation and compete with HP, Dell, Acer and Apple.
Initially introduced by IBM in 1992, ThinkPad remained the longest lasting design franchise in computing history and was lapped up by businesses and traveling users. In 2005, the brand was sold to Lenovo along with IBM’s PC division due to poor financial returns.
In the past three years, Lenovo managed to increase the annual revenue of IBM’s previous loss-making business from $3 billion to $17 billion and has nearly tripled its profits. And it feels urgent to release innovative products like IBM to prove its ability.
“The launch of the new product has proved that we are capable of making breakthrough innovations and setting new standards for the industry,” said Yang Yuanqing, chairman of Lenovo Group.
According to Lenovo’s third-quarter result ended January, its revenue reached $4.6 billion, up 15% compared with the same period of 2006. And the company’s notebook shipments grew 38% annually and sales reached $2.6 billion, accounting for 56% of the total sales.
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In recently years, Sohu.com Inc, the Chinese Web portal, has initiated its Olympic marketing strategy and became the official internet content sponsor for the Beijing Olympics in 2005. To avid fluctuations on the market, it has also been endeavoring to make revenue outside the online advertising sector.
Recently Sohu posted a nearly fivefold profit growth in its quarterly result, which is attributed to its sponsorship of the upcoming Olympics in Beijing and the success of an online role-playing game that it introduced last May.
Sohu’s revenue in the first quarter ended last month grew 156% to $84.8 million, while profit surged 383% to $21.6 million. Revenue from brand advertising reached $33.2 million, up 41% on a yearly basis while online game revenue increased 24 times to $41 million, boosting the company’s non-advertising revenue by 570% to $50.1 million.
A new report by Goldman Sachs indicates that the Beijng Olympics is expected to create an additional $65 million in terms of online advertising revenue for Chinese Internet companies, mainly from Olympic global partners like Samsung and Adidas that have been vigorously exploring the Chinese market.
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China, online advertising, profit, Sohu