* Cement maker flags sharp fall in H1 earnings
* Caterpillar ratchets back production schedules
* Sany Heavy warns of HK IPO delay
* China 2012 economic growth seen weakest in 13 years
(Adds more companies, economic context)
By Donny Kwok
HONG KONG, June 28 (Reuters) – Shares of China Resources
Cement Holdings fell as much as 5 percent on Thursday
after the cement maker warned of a sharp fall in first-half
earnings, showing how weakness in the world’s second-largest
economy is hitting corporate profits.
An increasing number of companies are feeling the pinch of a
slowdown in consumer demand and the overall economy.
China’s central bank cut its policy rates in June for the
first time since the global financial crisis as data for April
and May suggested growth was weakening more than previously
thought.
Shares of China Resources Cement, which has a market value
of nearly $4 billion, fell as much as 5 percent to HK$4.47,
their lowest level since October.
The stock was down 4 percent at HK$4.52 at 0342 GMT, lagging
a 0.2 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.
The cement maker warned late on Wednesday of a sharp drop in
first-half profit as selling prices for cement products have
fallen.
It is not the only company under pressure.
A clamp down on China’s property sector by policymakers is
weighing on GOME Electrical, China’s No. 2 home
appliance retailer, and bigger rival Suning, seen by
some as China’s answer to Best Buy. Spending on some
appliances has slowed down.
Indeed, home appliance sales rose just 0.5 percent in May
from a year earlier, underperforming a 13.8 percent increase in
overall retail sales, government data shows.
High-end products are also affected.
Zhang Yuping, executive chairman of Hengdeli Holdings Ltd
, China’s top luxury watch retailer, told Reuters
earlier this month that an uncertain economic environment had
slowed sales growth of luxury watches on the mainland this year.
“On the industry front, a trend of slower demand for
high-end products is expected this year, with sales of Cartier
and Rolex already seen slowing,” Zhang said.
Caterpillar Inc, the world’s largest heavy machinery
maker, flagged weakness this month and said it was ratcheting
back production schedules in China to reflect a slowdown in the
industry.
Caterpillar rival Sany Heavy Industry said on
Thursday it might delay its planned Hong Kong initial public
offering of shares if market conditions remained weak. It filed
for a $2 billion listing, Thomson Reuters publication IFR
reported in May.
Economists have cut their forecasts for China’s economic
growth since the April and May economic data was released. Many
say second-quarter growth could be just over 7 percent, which
would be the weakest pace of expansion since the global economic
crisis.
A Reuters poll in May showed a consensus forecast for
full-year growth in 2012 of 8.2 percent, which would be the
slowest pace of growth since 1999.
(Additional reporting by Liangi Chiang in Beijing; Editing by
Anne Marie Roantree and Neil Fullick)
