China Shenhua profit doubles in first three quarters

BEIJING - China's largest coal producer said Saturday that its net profits had more than doubled in the first three quarters, mainly due to rising coal prices and sales.

Shenhua Energy Company's net profit attributable to shareholders surged 106 percent year-on-year to 35.65 billion yuan ($5.36 billion), according to an unaudited quarterly report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its revenue rose 46.3 percent to 182.54 billion yuan.

The strong growth was mainly due to rising coal prices and more sales of coal and electricity during the period, the report said.

In the first nine months, the company's coal sales rose 13.9 percent from a year earlier to 328.3 million tons, with the average price surging 49.1 percent to 422 yuan per ton.

Its electricity production and sales both rose more than 12 percent.

The company's main business includes coal production, railways, port transport and power generation.

Its Shanghai-listed shares rose 0.34 percent to close at 20.71 yuan Friday.