Chinese companies are jettisoning core businesses and reinventing themselves as tech companies — and watching their share prices rise as they substitute gaming for the likes of coal and wood flooring.
一些中国企业正在抛弃核心业务,把自己再造为高科技公司。随着它们用游戏取代煤炭和木地板,它们的股价出现上涨。
Corporate reincarnations mirror structural shifts in the broader economy, with slower growth denting industries such as manufacturing and real estate.
企业“转世”映衬了整体经济的结构性转变,增长放缓抑制了制造业和房地产等行业。
Newly-minted tech companies also feed into the euphoria which has propelled the Shanghai Composite index up 115 per cent in the last year — even as the economy decelerated and industrial profits, a gauge of health in the manufacturing sector, fell by 2.7 per cent in the first quarter.
新出炉的高科技企业也助燃了股市的兴奋情绪。上证综指(Shanghai Composite)在过去一年大涨115%,即便经济增长放缓,而工业利润(制造业健康状况的衡量标准)在第一季度下降2.7%。
Nearly 100 Chinese listed companies last year changed their official names, mostly on the back of shifts in strategy, and another 40 have done so this year.
近100家中国上市公司去年变更了正式名称,主要理由是战略转变,今年以来另有40家公司更名。
“Companies want to let investors know that they are moving away from original business and into emerging industries. It’s like in the US in the 1990s when every company started calling itself dotcom,” said Yao Weiwei, equity strategist at Huatai Securities in Shanghai, acknowledging that most name changes are more than just cosmetic.
“这些公司想让投资者知道,他们正在告别原来的业务,移师新兴产业。这就像美国20世纪90年代时,每家公司都开始自称为网络公司,”华泰证券(Huatai Securities)在上海的股票策略师姚未未(音)表示,他承认多数更名不仅涉及表面上的美化。
Tech and emerging industries have been among the biggest winners in the recent share rally. Investors expect tech companies to benefit from government policies aimed at reducing the economy’s reliance on smokestack industries, and promoting the services sector.
高科技和新兴产业在近期股价涨势的最大赢家之列。投资者预期,高科技公司将获益于旨在减少经济对烟囱工业的依赖、促进服务业的政府政策。
Lossmaking coalminer Shanghai Ace Co demonstrates the drill. In early February it bought an online gaming company and changed its name to Shanghai U9 Game Co — and its stock price has subsequently soared by 140 per cent , even as mining assets still weigh on its balance sheet.
亏损的煤炭企业——上海爱使公司(Shanghai Ace Co)展示了这种转型。2月初,该公司收购了一家网络游戏公司,然后将自己更名为上海游久游戏公司(Shanghai U9 Game Co)。公司股价随后飙升140%,即便矿业资产仍在拖累其资产负债表。
“On the foundation of coal mining and sales, the company’s core business is expanding to include internet gaming,” the company said in a filing.
“公司经营范围由‘对石油液化气行业、煤炭及清洁能源等行业的投资与经营’变更为‘从事游戏制作、运营的技术开发、技术服务、技术咨询等’,”该公司在监管申报文件中表示。
Lossmaking Panda Fireworks changed its name to Panda Financial Holding in April as it announced plans to launch a peer-to-peer lending platform. Word of Panda’s pending transformation appeared to leak out early as its shares suddenly lept by the maximum 10 per cent for two days before trading was suspended on March 9.
亏损的熊猫烟花(Panda Fireworks)在4月份更名为熊猫金控(Panda Financial Holding),并宣布计划推出一个P2P贷款平台。有关熊猫即将转型的消息似乎提早泄露,因为该公司的股票在3月9日停牌之前曾连续两天涨停(触及10%的单日涨幅上限)。
But name changing is not a cure-all.
但是,更名并不能包治百病。
Cloud Live Technology Group changed its name from Beijing Xiangeqing Group after it decided to shift out of luxury restaurants and into cloud computing. But last month Cloud Live became the first Chinese company to default on bond principal after it failed to repay Rmb402m ($64m) in debt.
北京湘鄂情集团(Beijing Xiangeqing Group)在决定放弃豪华餐厅业务、进军云计算行业后,更名为中科云网(Cloud Live Technology Group)。但在上月,中科云网未能偿还4.02亿元人民币(合6400万美元)债务,成为首家在债券本金上违约的中国企业。