Beijing Media makes robust HK debut
By Ma Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-12-23 08:38

HONG KONG: Beijing Media, the Chinese mainland's first media group company to list on an overseas stock exchange, made a robust debut in Hong Kong yesterday, 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 Chairman Zhang Yanping (center) presents a souvenir to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on the company's debut yesterday in Hong Kong. [newsphoto]

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 yesterday. 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.

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