25th Jun 2014 11:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - HaiKe Chemical Group Ltd Wednesday said it swung to a loss in 2013, on the back of depressed selling prices, higher operating costs and restructuring charges.
The China-based specialty chemical business posted a pretax loss of CNY10.2 million, compared with a pretax profit of CNY21.8 million in 2012. It said it swung to a loss largely due to higher administrative and finance expenses, as well as an impairment charge relating to its restructuring.
"2013 was a challenging year for the group, primarily as a result of depressed selling prices, higher operating costs and recognition of a one-off fixed assets impairment," said Executive Chairman Xiaohong Yang in a statement.
During the year its refinery division made a loss due to a combination of low utilisation rates and depressed selling prices, while it said the performance of its specialty and salt chemical businesses were mixed. It said that biochemicals recorded modest growth despite further margin erosion.
Revenues in the year however, rose 2.4% to CNY981.5 million, up from CNY958.8 million, boosted by strong sales of Petrochemical products.
"The restructuring process to strip out the majority of the historic group's debt burden and the uncertainties of the refinery business is now complete. Going forward, we will develop the existing businesses, Spring Chemical and HaiKe Trading, and are looking for further opportunities in higher margin, profitable specialty chemical products," Xiaohong Yang added.
HaiKe Chemical Group shares were untraded Wednesday morning at 23.25 pence.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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