Category: Daily Finance

Live Online Masterclass on Project Finance & Project Financial Modelling

Infocus International Group has launched the Project Finance & Project Financial Modelling online course and it will be commencing live on 10th June 2021. Throughout the eight sessions of the course, you will learn the latest PF strategies, risk mitigation instruments, as well as financial modelling best practices with practical case studies.

Today’s project finance (PF) transactions require a higher level of expertise not only in programming more sophisticated and flexible financial models, but also in incorporating the latest risk mitigation and credit enhancement instruments. While higher standards of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact management are being demanded of all major capital projects worldwide, more options and models for ESG mitigation, insurance, guarantee products, and financing instruments are now available.

The objective of this course is to provide participants with an enhanced understanding of the practical & documentation requirements of all interested parties to today’s PF transaction. This programme provides you with proven PF analytical strategies and transaction structuring techniques which will enable you to quantitatively assess risks, resolve constraints, and reach project financial closure. This programme is also designed to enhance the check lists and benchmark metrics by which you can reduce losses and which will be viewed favourably by both management and the regulatory community.

Course Sessions:

– Limited-recourse Project Finance models & key requirements
– Managing Project Finance transactions & stages of the deal
– Project Finance documentation management, risk analysis models & Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) mitigation options
– Sources of PF funding, financing instruments & guarantee products; credit enhancements & bankability techniques
– PF financial model design requirements, presentation & formatting standards
– Programming financial statements, cash flows, profit & loss statements and managing international accounting standards
– Projecting PF balance sheets, SPV reserve accounts, PF refinancing, and conducting sensitivity analyses
– PF model stress-testing, overseeing Monte Carlo simulation analyses, and modelling for credit enhancements

As a result of actively engaging in this program, you will be able to make practical decisions on PF strategies, projects, and transactions for your organizations following the workshop?s completion.

Want to learn more?
Simply email to weslyn@infocusint.com or call +65 6325 0351 to obtain your FREE COPY of event brochure. For more information, please visit www.infocusinternational.com/projectfinance-online .

About Infocus International Group

Infocus International is a global business intelligence provider of strategic information and professional services for diverse business communities.

Infocus International recognises clients’ needs and responds with innovative and result oriented programmes. All products are founded on high value content in diverse subject areas, and the highest level of quality is ensured through intensive and in-depth market research from local and international insights.

Weslyn Lee
Tel: +65 6325 0351 | Email:
weslyn@infocusinternational.com
Web: www.infocusinternational.com

Infocus International to Finalise the Registration for Public-Private Partnerships (P3) Live Online Masterclass

Infocus International Group has launched the Public-Private Partnerships online course and it will be commencing live on 5th May 2021. Throughout the eight sessions, you will be mastering PPP project analysis, financing, contracts & transaction management techniques.

We need new infrastructure. Roads, airports, schools, hospitals and housing: the list is enormous and growing. Yet severely limited budgets, economic uncertainty caused by volatile commodity prices, and deficits continue to prevent government at all levels from delivering the kinds of structural change that has always been needed. In response, some countries have developed successful PPP programmes. Merely grasping the concepts of PPP does not do justice to our great responsibility of having an ownership in the country’s future. We already know what we need to do, now is the time to really discover HOW.

Course Highlights

– PPP policies, strategies, laws & units for implementing successful PPP transactions
– Identifying & selecting appropriate projects for PPPs
– Models for analyzing PPP projects
– Managing & completing PPP feasibility studies
– Financing techniques for PPP to ensure long-term PPP bankability and affordability
– Managing and overseeing PPP procurements & achieving transaction closure
– PPP stakeholder management & sustainability techniques
– Managing long-term PPP contracts for ensuring service delivery, price regulation, and dispute resolution

This online workshop features rigorous new interactive methodology that require attendees to demonstrate their understanding with each module’s practical techniques and learning outcomes. Every 10-15 minutes throughout each session, you will be required to complete either focused review questions for selecting among a range of PPP decisions, or brief group exercise assignments. You should be prepared to actively participate, and not merely to “watch & listen” video presentations.

As a result of actively engaging in this program’s methodology, you will be able to make practical decisions on PPP strategies, projects, and transactions for your organizations following the workshop’s completion.

Want to learn more?
Simply email to weslyn@infocusint.com or call +65 6325 0351 to obtain your FREE COPY of event brochure. For more information, please visit www.infocusinternational.com/ppp-online .

About Infocus International Group

Infocus International is a global business intelligence provider of strategic information and professional services for diverse business communities.

Infocus International recognises clients’ needs and responds with innovative and result oriented programmes. All products are founded on high value content in diverse subject areas, and the highest level of quality is ensured through intensive and in-depth market research from local and international insights.

Weslyn Lee
Tel: +65 6325 0351
Email: weslyn@infocusinternational.com
Web: www.infocusinternational.com

Can Newborn Town become the next tenfold gainer?

What is the trend of the Internet industry in 2021? Chances are it’s an open social platform. Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, made Clubhouse popular around the world. Is Clubhouse the ultimate answer to an open social platform? It’s hard to say at the moment, but the era of open socialization has arrived.

Youth tend to move with anything new. So although Facebook has an absolute advantage in the global social field, Snapchat and Twitter still have room for development. With the continuous development of the Internet, a new generation of young users has a higher acceptance of video and audio, and a new generation of open social apps has also emerged.

For Chinese Internet companies seeking growth opportunities in overseas markets, open social networking provides huge development opportunities, among which two of the most successful are China-based Newborn Town Inc (HKG: 9911), and AE-based Yalla Group Ltd (NYSE: YALA). First, let’s take a look at Newborn Town, which has just released its 2020 financial report.

The great potential of strangers socializing

Since its listing in 2019, the changes in Newborn Town have been earth-shaking. Founded in 2009, its founder Liu Chunhe always cherished the dream of changing the world with Internet products. In 2013, Newborn Town began to expand overseas, since then overseas markets have become a company core strategy.

In the initial stage of going overseas, the company quickly accumulated internet tools, with hundreds of millions of users in the world. However, as the inherent shortcomings of tools, such as low stickiness and user duration, have been recognized by the capital market, the valuation of mobile Internet tools is at a low ebb, which is also a reason the share price of Newborn Town is still not high after its listing.

However, in 2020, Newborn Town engineered a magnificent makeover. The company’s core development strategy was successfully upgraded and the company seized the opportunity for open social networking with audio and video social products including Yiyo, MICO and YoHo. The average monthly active users of social platforms were about 11.36 million, and they are still growing rapidly.

In early 2021, when the market began to reassess the company’s stock, its price skyrocketed from HK$1.70 to a peak of HK$11.54. The price fell back, but is around HK$4.30, still up more than 200% from last year’s low. If the stock price of Newborn Town has risen sharply, will there be a bubble? It depends on strong performance.

On March 24, the company released its earnings for 2020. Revenue came in at CNY1.18 billion, an anual increase of 203.2%, net profit of CNY110 million represented an increase of 67.1%. Newborn Town’s current stock price is HK$4.3, with share capital of 999 million shares, and a market valuation of about HK$4.3 billion, or CNY3.6 billion. Compared to the growth in 2020 revenue and net profit, the share price is not expensive at all.

How was Newborn Town able to upgrade in just a year? In fact, Newborn Town began to lay out open social networking a few years ago. In 2016, the company incubated MICO, a social product aimed at overseas markets. After several years of rapid development, MICO has achieved rapid revenue growth and achieved profitability.

MICO ranked second as China’s overseas social networking platform. According to official data from MICO, the platform currently covers more than 150 countries and regions around the world, has entered the top 10 App Store bestsellers in 92 countries and regions, and has accumulated hundreds of millions of successful pairings.

On July 2, Sensor Tower, the mobile app data company, announced China’s Top 20 Short Video / Live Streaming Apps for the First Half 2020. MICO was once again on the list, ranking Top 20 in terms of download volume and revenue. Sensor Tower pointed out that with the global pandemic, people were seeking entertainment and socially networking online, with related apps ushering in an explosive round of growth in 2020.

In fact, MICO, which includes the live broadcast module, has been on the list many times before. In Q1 and Q2 2019, MICO continued in Sensor Tower’s Top 20 for overseas revenue of China’s Short Video / Live Streaming Apps, ranking firmly in the Top 10. Last year, MICO entered the list again ranking No. 6.

At the same time, YoHo, Newborn Town’s social voice platform, was launched in 2018. It is entrenched in the Middle East and North Africa with the six core Gulf countries. It has also entered the top 10 best-selling Google Play social applications in the Gulf countries, becoming the second voice social product in the Middle East.

Yiyo, the company’s video social product, aims at differentiation and creates social scenes in the form of video matching and one-to-one video chat, which is loved by young users. This product is among the top 20 of Google Play global social app download list in 2020, with a total of more than 50 million downloads.

By 2020, the average monthly active users of social platforms were about 11.36 million, and they are still growing rapidly. By the end of 2020, Newborn Town had a ‘super-traffic ecology’ with 1.2 billion users, and it was monetizing its ‘traffic + X’ business model on a global scale. In terms of core strategy, the company was focusing on stranger social business, supplemented by multiple businesses such as games.

After the stocks rise, it was still undervalued, and it may be the next tenfold gainer.
Although Newborn Town’s stock price has risen sharply recently, compared with similar companies, the company’s stock price is still seriously undervalued.

For example, Yalla, which has a business model similar to that of Newborn Town, was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2020 with a share price of US$20.3 and a market value of about US$3 billion by virtue of its product Yalla’s success in the Middle East.

According to the latest financial report of Yalla Group Inc, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Yalla, the company’s core social networking product, had 6.4 million monthly live users, which is only about half of the 13.18 million monthly live users of social networking platform of Newborn Town Technology in the fourth quarter of last year.

At the same time, the total income of Yalla in 2020 was RMB880 million, a year-on-year increase of 113%, and its net profit was RMB20.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 7%. These two key data are far lower than that of Newborn Town, but the current market value of Newborn Town is only HK$4.3 billion, or about US$550 million.

Through a comparison of monthly user data and financial data of the two companies, it is obvious that Newborn Town has greater potential and more stable financial data. But as the market has not fully recognized the potential of Newborn Town’s social networking platforms, the company’s share price is still seriously undervalued. Moreover, Newborn Town’s platforms have outstanding performance in many countries, and the long-term potential is undoubtedly greater than that of Yalla, which is only deployed in the Middle East and North Africa.

From the characteristics of the US and Hong Kong stock markets, the HK market is less friendly to small-cap companies. In addition, the HK market doesn’t fully tap the potential of Internet technology stocks, as leading blue-chip stocks are the market favorites. In the U.S. stock market, there are social media leaders like Facebook, and alternative social media companies such as Snapchat, Twitter, Match Group, and Pinterest. The U.S. stock market understands the business models and the growth potential of such companies.

Therefore, in the current Hong Kong stock market, the value of Newborn Town has been temporarily hidden. But with Kuaishou’s landing in the Hong Kong stock market, coupled with the upcoming Byte Dancing, the value on Internet social networking in Hong Kong stocks is expected to be immediately discovered.

Of course, there is a huge gap between the two companies in terms of market value. On the other hand, it is also because Yalla Group has been on the market for less than half a year and there are fewer circulating shares.

Frankly speaking, with the current user data and financial data of Newborn Town, the valuation on the primary market should definitely exceed US$1 billion. According to the normal secondary market valuation, even with the most conservative estimate of 50% off, the market value of Newborn Town should be about US$1.9 billion, and the corresponding stock price about HK$15, which is 10 times last year’s low of 1.5 Hong Kong dollars!

Going to sea is at the right time, with certainty and growth

The success of Newborn Town going overseas is not only a miniature of Chinese Internet companies going to sea, but also a typical successful case.

According to Senser Tower data, Chinese Internet companies will return with a full load from overseas markets in 2020. For the first time, the total revenue from China’s overseas mobile travel market will exceed US$10 billion, with the highest growth rate is in the world. Revenue from the top 30 mobile travel products will reach US$9.2 billion, up 47% this year, while revenue from Tiktok, by Byte Dance, of US$1.26 billion, has increased 590%.

Focus on the social track. The rapid growth of social products of Newborn Town overseas is based on the rapid development of Chinese social products overseas.

The development of Chinese Internet companies is similar to that of mobile phone companies. After the bloody fight in the domestic market, with the “all-in-one martial arts” trained in the domestic market, China’s Internet companies can make a big show in the overseas market through localized operations, such as Tiktok under Byte Dance. The overseas market has also given Chinese manufacturers ample room for development.

From another point of view, some domestic Internet companies, such as Momo, have missed opportunities for overseas development, which have hindered their development and their market value continued to fall.

For Newborn Town 2020 was undoubtedly a very successful year. The company transformed from a software tools company to a social product company, achieving a gorgeous upgrade, and the capital market has repriced the company. The company’s share price has risen by 200% from the lowest point.

From the perspective of the company’s development, high-speed growth in 2021 can still be expected. As the company’s revenues and profit continue to increase, the capital market will change the underestimation of the company. In the long run, Newborn Town Technology has a chance to become another tenfold stock.

Media contact:
Heidi He, Peanutmedia
E: hemeiyu@czgmcn.com
Website: Peanutmedia.com

CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021 coming to you virtually on 20 April 2021

Following a year of unprecedented disruption, business technology adoption has rapidly accelerated across Asia. Cloud technologies have gone from nice to have to must have and companies are discovering the power of mixing and matching solutions to meet their ever-changing business needs. In this process, finance leaders play a much more critical role than before. The newly launched CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021 is the first event to kick off The Accounting & Finance Show Asia 2021 series and will bring together the finance leaders and corporate treasurers from medium and large enterprises across Asia.

Broadcasting more than 14 hours of curated content, this one-day virtual summit will feature the most inspirational CFOs, treasurers and finance leaders speaking across 2 key channels, Future Finance and Digital Treasury. Topics include “Digital Transformation & Role of CFO in Strategic Business Positioning”, “Digital trends that will transform the finance function in 2021”, “Managing cash and liquidity on a global scale during a turbulent business environment”, “Re-emergence planning and post-pandemic recovery” etc. The latest insights, technologies and best practices to be shared aim to help finance leaders navigate through the uncertainties beyond 2021, driving recovery and growth.

Some of the expert speakers at CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021 include:
– Delvin Chen, Director, Commercial Treasury, GE
– Christopher Emslie, Asian Regional Treasurer, General Mills
– Nitin Jain, Head of Treasury & Capital Markets, Agrocorp
– Alexander Joramsa, CFO Asia Pacific, Teva Pharmaceutical
– Laxmi Keshote, Treasury & Financial Risk Lead, Stripe
– Pheng Leong Tan, CFO, BIBD Bank
– Ramesh Narasimhan, CFO, Arcis Global Merchants
– Suryanarayanan Balasubramanian, CFO, iWise
– Surin Segar, Executive VP, Group Head – Tax, Maybank
– Ekaterina Sejourne, Regional Head of Finance – Middle East Asia Pacific, Puma Energy
– Siew Shan Sim, CFO, Air Asia
– Jessie Qiu, Head of Finance- Asia & Latin America, ResMed
– Axel Hauke, Trader/Treasury Manager, Agrocorp International Pte Ltd
– Timothy Williams, CFO, FCM Travel Solutions
– Gary Zhang, Group CFO, Qi Group

BlackLine is the Summit’s Gold Sponsor, while Esker and ITILITE are the Summit’s Silver Sponsors. They will be empowering the CFO and Treasury community through the presentation of integrated solutions at their respective conference sessions.

Ms Fei Xiang Woon, Director of APAC Marketing Programs of Blackline shared, “The past twelve months have seen an enormous shift in the way that businesses carry out their traditional finance and accounting processes. The CFO & Treasury Summit Asia promises to bring together the finance community at just the right time, and we are delighted to be a part of the event.”

The one-day free-to-attend summit is expected to garner the attendance of over 500 CFOs, treasurers and finance leaders from across Asia and beyond.

Details of the one-day virtual summit are as follows:
CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021
20 April 2021 | Virtual Free-to-Attend
https://bit.ly/3tQbhW4

About Terrapinn

Terrapinn is an international events media business with 30 years’ experience developing best in class conferences and exhibitions across a wide range of key industry verticals. With our global footprint and offices in London, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Dubai and Johannesburg, we’ve been sparking ideas, innovations and relationships that transform businesses. In Asia we run 17 pan Asian events; Telecoms, Enterprise Technology, Life Sciences, Transportation, Accounting, Logistics, Education and Renewable Energy sectors. In 2020, we ran over 80 virtual events and total attendance across all shows was in excess of 70,000.

For more information, please contact:
Lim Jia Le
Marketing Executive
Terrapinn Pte Ltd
Tel: (65) 8133 1705
Email: jiale.lim@terrapinn.com.

Maps.me to Launch Financial Services of the Future to Millions of Users

 Over 140,000 users have joined the waitlist for the launch of the Maps.me wallet
– Wallet will integrate access to payments, foreign exchange and passive income

 Maps.me today announced that it will add next-generation financial capabilities to its navigational services, aiming to enrich the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world by providing them with an easier way to pay, transfer, earn passive income and invest. From generating attractive investment returns in a low-interest world to making instantaneous payments across 35 currencies, Maps.me 2.0 will integrate convenient financial services with the world’s most popular off- line mapping platform.

“We’re excited to be building a holistic travel and financial platform that will be a trusted companion to our highly-engaged community of users as they explore the world and go about their daily lives,” said Alex Grebnev, Co-founder of Maps.me. “Maps.me has enhanced people’s ability to navigate, wherever they are going. Now, the same platform will offer financial services that are cheap, secure and highly relevant to the needs of Maps.me users.”

From maps to money

Maps.me is used to discover and navigate places – from the streets of Barcelona to the African savannah – and bookmark them for future use. The app’s open-source technology provides greater agility and choice for users, fueling an ever-increasing network that has enriched Maps.me itself. Over the last nine years, the app has been downloaded 140 million times, with 60 million people using it to navigate 195 countries in 2020.

Pilots, magazine photographers, professional cyclists, aid workers and everyday travellers love using its turn-by-turn routing, travel guides, and detailed mapping – which are all available without using often- costly mobile data. Maps.me is particularly popular with millennials in Europe: roughly 60% of users from are from the region, and more than 70% are between the ages of 18 and 40.

A recent survey conducted by Maps.me indicated that roughly half of its users are interested in accessing financial services via the app. More than 140,000 users have already joined the waiting list for a digital wallet that will allow them to:

– Earn yields of as much as 8% on stored value;
– Make payments via a linked credit card; and
– Transfer money instantly to friends and family globally and in 35 different currencies

The value in Maps.me wallets is invested in AAA-rated assets and held in a Swiss trust structure that is administered by TMF Services, a regulated entity in Switzerland. TMF is the largest corporate service provider in the world, trusted by over 60% of Fortune Global 500 and FTSE 100 companies. Users enjoy this security as well as the convenience of accessing these services via a platform they know and love – all for zero or low fees.*

A new approach to finance

The financial services offered via Maps.me will draw on a new approach to financial services: decentralized finance. DeFi is a user-driven financial system that uses smart contracts to allow people and institutions to transact directly with each other, rather than via a large financial institution.

Unnecessary middlemen are eliminated, cutting costs, increasing speed and certainty.

Since its inception, Maps.me has been open and community-driven, with users contributing to its development using the OpenStreetMap Project. Maps.me users are a substantial part of the OSM contributor group. Maps.me 2.0 builds upon that same spirit and DeFi makes this possible by allowing many to connect with many.

The roll-out of these financial capabilities with Maps.me 2.0 follows the platform’s acquisition last November by Daegu Limited, a member of the Parity.com Group.

The integration of financial services with the Maps.me platform is moving ahead quickly. Closed beta testing of the Maps.me wallet will be finalized in the next few weeks. Waitlisted users will start to be offered access to the wallet after the testing process is completed, followed by a broader launch in due course.

More about Maps.me

Maps.me is the world’s leading off-line mapping application for travelers. Launched in 2012 it has been downloaded more than 140 million times. More than 60 million users worldwide were active in 2020 planning and navigating their excursions in 195 countries. Maps.me users can download maps for their intended travels and then access their maps without the need for expensive roaming connectivity. An open-source advocate, Maps.me users are a primary contributor to the OpenStreetMapping Project globally. Beginning in 2021, the app will integrate payment, currency exchange and passive income services in 35 currencies to further enable explorers worldwide.

Media contacts:

Asia:
Adam@CaliberCorporateAdvisers.com
+852 3569 2275

North America:
ScottK@CaliberCorporateAdvisers.com
+1 917 647 1810

Shougang Century Announces 2020 Annual Results

Strictly Controlled Costs Profit After Tax Increased by 36.8%
And Dividend Distribution Increased by 50%
Actively Enhancing Production Capacity Aim to Add Additional 100,000 Tonnes of Steel Cord Production Capacity

Shougang Concord Century Holdings Limited (“Shougang Century”, together with its subsidiaries, “the Group”; stock code: 0103.HK) is pleased to announce its audited annual results for the year ended 31 December 2020.

During the year under review, the pandemic outbreak caused a halt to manufacturing industries in a number of countries, dealing a heavy blow to the global economy. Fortunately, the Chinese government responded to the pandemic quickly after the outbreak with a series of effective and targeted measures, which underpinned the satisfactory progress in work resumption and production acceleration. On the other hand, the rampant pandemic has not been controlled in the overseas and dragged on manufacturing sectors across other countries, resulting in a shortage of tyres and related products. In view of this, the Group decisively seized the market opportunities by exploring new customers, while optimizing its sales mix to flexibly meet customers’ requirements. Meanwhile, in order to actively cater for the market demand, the Group adopted a multi-pronged approach to expand production capacity in order to boost both the supply and its core competitiveness.

Leveraging the Group’s strict and effective cost control, gross profit margin from continuing operations increased from 17.6% in 2019 to 19.3%, whilst gross profit from continuing operations increased by 4.3% to HK$394,322,000. With the reduction of finance costs, the Group’s profit before income tax and profit for the year increased by 26.0% and 36.8% to HK$145,911,000 and HK$148,254,000, respectively. The board of directors recommended the payment of a final dividend of HK1.5 cents per share for the year ended 31 December 2020 (2019: HK1 cent per share), the dividend distribution increased by 50%.

Located in Zhejiang Province and Shandong Province, the Group’s two large production bases produce approximately 200,000 tonnes of steel cords in total every year. To cope with the increasing demand for tyres in China and abroad fuels a robust market demand for steel cords, the Group expanded its production capacity through further optimizing its plant construction. In 2019, the Group kicked off an expansion plan in its Tengzhou factory and invested in new brass wire production facilities to add an additional 100,000 tonnes of steel cord production capacity. Spurred by the solid construction progress, the Group has continued to make great strides towards its goal to become an enterprise commanding an annual manufacturing capacity in excess of 300,000 tonnes of high-quality steel cords.

Mr. SU Fanrong, Chairman and Managing Director of Shougang Century said “Looking forward, the growing demand for domestic large vehicles’ tyres, coupled with the growing needs for steel cords driven by the Chinese government’s ‘domestic circulation’ policy and energy conservation and emission reduction requirement, will benefit the development of the domestic steel cord industry. As the photovoltaic, sapphire and magnetic material markets gradually improve, the domestic sawing wire market has witnessed a steady growth. We are fully confident with the Group’s business, and will continuously strive to achieve our target in becoming one of the top three independent manufacturers of steel cord industry in China.”

About Shougang Concord Century Holdings Limited
Shougang Concord Century Holdings Limited (0103.HK) is primarily engaged in manufacturing of steel cords for radial tyres, sawing wires and other wire products. The Group possesses two large production bases in Zhejiang Province and Shandong Province, together producing approximately 200,000 tonnes of steel cords annually. Having been delivering products of a consistently premium quality over the years, the Group supplies products to over 20 countries worldwide and has won wide recognition from international tyres manufacturers. Listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since April 1992, the Group has a strong shareholder base with substantial shareholders including Shougang Group Co., Ltd. (a state-owned enterprise under the direct supervision of the Beijing State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission), a Fortune 500 company, and its controlled corporations, Bekaert Group and Li Ka Shing Foundation Limited. Through its longstanding dedication to purveying premium quality steel cords and wire products, the Group aims to become one of the top three independent manufacturers of steel cord industry in China.

For more information, please visit: http://www.shougangcentury.com.hk

Zijin Mining Reports Annual Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2020

 Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. (SSE:601899, SEHK:2899) is pleased to announce audited consolidated annual results for the Company and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) for the year ended 31 December 2020 (the “Period”).

Group results for the period are summarized as follows:

— Operating income of RMB 171.501 billion, an increase of 26.01% compared with 2019 (RMB 136.098 billion).

— Profit before tax of RMB 10.846 billion, an increase of 55.51% compared with 2019 (RMB 6.974 billion).

— Net profit attributable to owners of the company of RMB 6.509 billion, an increase of 51.93% compared with 2019 (RMB 4.284 billion).

— Total assets were RMB 182.313 billion as of 31 December 2020, an increase of 47.23% compared with the beginning of the year (RMB 123.831 billion).

— Net assets attributable to owners of the company were RMB 56.539 billion as of 31 December 2020, an increase of 10.46% compared with the beginning of the year (RMB 51.186 billion).

— The Board of Directors proposes a profit distribution for the period of a final cash dividend of RMB 1.2 per 10 shares (tax included). This proposed profit distribution is subject to approval at the shareholders’ general meeting.

Planned production volume & indicators of major mineral products:

                                      2020        2021        2022        2025
Mine-produced gold (tons)             40.5       53-56       67-72       80-90
Mine-produced copper (mil tons)      0.453     0.54-0.58   0.80-0.85   1.00-1.10
Mine-produced zinc (lead)(mil tons)  0.378     0.45-0.48   0.47-0.50       --
Iron ore (million tons)               3.87     3.50-3.80   2.90-3.30       --
Mine-produced silver (tons)            299      240-300     270-310        --

Note: For 2022-2025, except for mine-produced gold and mine-produced copper, the production volumes of other mineral products will basically remain unchanged.

The future operation and financial figures (if any) in this press release are stated as goals of the Company and shall not constitute a profit forecast of the Company. There is no guarantee that the Company will be able to achieve such goals or not. In light of the risks and uncertainties, the inclusion of forward-looking statements in this press release should not be regarded as or constitute any representations or actual commitment by the Board or the Company to investors that the plans and objectives in the press release will be achieved, and investors should not place undue reliance on such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd.
http://www.zijinmining.com

Trintech Continues to Innovate Its Leading Financial Solutions to Meet the Needs of Large Enterprises Across the Globe

Trintech, a leading global provider of integrated Record to Report software solutions for the office of finance, today announced several key product enhancements to help large enterprises reduce the time spent on tasks and drive greater efficiencies in their month-end workflows.

“As our customers continue to focus on agility and sustainability during this time, the enhancements we have made in our solutions deliver greater control, enhanced visibility, increased efficiencies and certainty of accurate financial reporting that our large enterprise customers demand,” said Michael Ross, Chief Product Officer at Trintech.

With the latest release of Trintech’s Cadency Platform, finance and accounting professionals can elevate their financial automation with highly configurable and transparent workflows, integrated connector enhancements, and extended scalability and automation with new Smart Bots and ERP Bot enhancements. Leading Enterprises will benefit from the following:

– Greater efficiencies gained in the reconciliation process
– Additional automation capabilities to reduce the time to close
– Enhanced integration between Record to Report (R2R) processes to improve the overall experience
– Enhanced Bot functionality that drives deep automation and reduces administration burdens to refocus time and effort on higher value-added activities

In addition, the Cadency user experience provides intuitive, easy-to-use, standardized functionality that drives greater efficiencies throughout the finance and accounting team’s daily workflow.

Managing and performing transaction matching and account reconciliations are a cornerstone of the month-end close, and when done inefficiently, can be a very time-consuming and risk prone process. To help finance & accounting teams further reduce the time and risk in this process, Trintech has extended the automation capabilities between Cadency Match and Reconciliation Certify by leveraging leading technologies, such as Risk Intelligent RPA(TM) to reduce the number of accounts needing manual reconciliation, reduce the workload for end users and administrators and allow for a faster and more efficient month-end close.

In addition, Trintech has introduced Cadency Smart Bots so finance & accounting teams can benefit from purpose-built Bot capabilities that allow not only automation of repetitive manual tasks but also complete Record to Report (R2R) activities including the ability to:

– Prepare account reconciliations using files or data from external data repositories or email inboxes and attaching any supporting documents leveraging Cadency Reconciliation Certify
– Post Journals using data or files from external data repositories or email inboxes, along with any necessary back-up documentation leveraging Cadency Journal Entry
– Close tasks corresponding to Journal Entry postings, Account Reconciliations, etc. directly in Cadency Close.

About Trintech

Trintech Inc., a pioneer of Financial Corporate Performance Management (FCPM) software, combines unmatched technical and financial expertise to create innovative, cloud-based software solutions that deliver world-class financial operations and insights. From high volume transaction matching and streamlining daily operational reconciliations, to automating and managing balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany accounting, journal entries, disclosure reporting and bank fee analysis, to governance, risk and compliance – Trintech’s portfolio of financial solutions, including Cadency(R) Platform, Adra(R) Suite, and targeted tools, ReconNET(TM), T-Recs(R), and UPCS(R), help manage all aspects of the financial close process. Over 3,500 clients worldwide – including the majority of the Fortune 100 – rely on the company’s cloud-based software to continuously improve the efficiency, reliability, and strategic insights of their financial operations.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Trintech has offices located across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordics, as well as strategic partners in South Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific. To learn more about Trintech, visit www.trintech.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Kristina Pereira Tully
Vested
650-464-0080
trintech@fullyvested.com

SOURCE: Trintech, Inc.

CITIC Telecom CPC Launches SmartCLOUD Object Storage Solution Based on Cloudian Object Storage Platform

CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (“CITIC Telecom CPC”), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK:1883), and Cloudian today announced that CITIC Telecom CPC is introducing SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution based on Cloudian’s HyperStore object storage platform. The offering, which will be part of CITIC Telecom CPC’s SmartCLOUD(TM) solutions portfolio, includes backup with ransomware protection, archiving and big data management. As a VMware Cloud Provider Principal Partner with VMware Cloud Verified status, CITIC Telecom CPC’s SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution further extends the array of service offerings running on a VMware-managed environment. CITIC Telecom CPC’s customers will also benefit from Cloudian’s limitlessly scalability, industry-leading security and cost effectiveness.

Enterprises face a growing challenge of efficiently storing and managing large volumes of unstructured data, including video and other multimedia content. At the same time, as data has become an increasingly strategic asset, it is also increasingly vulnerable to ransomware and other cyber attacks. As a result, CITIC Telecom CPC turned to Cloudian – via the VMware Cloud Provider Program – to provide a robust, modern storage foundation that would enable the company to continue delivering value-added services that address its customers’ evolving data protection and management needs, including meeting various regulatory and compliance requirements.

CITIC Telecom CPC’s SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution includes:

Ultra-secure data protection
– Offsite data backup with Object Lock for ransomware protection that creates an immutable data copy for fast, easy recovery of data in the event of an attack.
Data archive for compliance needs
– Addresses customers’ regulatory and compliance requirements, including audits, with the ability to make data unchangeable for a set period of time.
Seamless accessibility
– Customers gain multi-cloud accessibility to datasets running on S3-based applications for greater convenience with lower overhead.
Scalable big data management
– Provides highly scalable, cost-effective storage for large datasets, with advanced metadata that facilitates artificial intelligence, machine learning and other analytics applications.
Great variety of connectivity options
– Supports connection with Internet, VPN (such as MPLS), point-to-point leased line and cross-connection within the same datacenter and SmartCLOUD(TM) Cloud Services Centers.
Simple billing model
– Basically only includes storage and data transfer out; API call for data access is free of charge.

In addition to limitless scalability, benefits of Cloudian’s award-winning HyperStore object storage include:

Fully native S3 compatibility
– Ensures seamless integration with the expanding ecosystem of S3-based applications.
Advanced security
– Including Object Lock-based data immutability, secure shell, RBAC/IAM access controls, AES-256 server-side encryption for data at rest and SSL for data in transit, as well as certification with the most rigorous international security requirements.
Multi-tenancy
– Supports for secure, self-managed storage within a shared platform.
Geo-distribution
– Easy to manage storage across multiple locations, all from a single pane of glass.

“After considering various object storage solutions, we selected Cloudian for its rich feature set-particularly its geo-distribution, multi-tenancy and security-and its seamless integration with VMware,” said Taylor Lam, Senior Vice President, Product Development & Management at CITIC Telecom CPC. “With the rising regulatory and compliance stringency on data management, we’re excited about the new SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution for delivering a cost-effective storage service with enhanced data protection and management to our customers.”

“CITIC Telecom CPC has been at the forefront in enabling enterprises to leverage new technologies to drive greater competitive advantage, strategic agility, and faster time to market,” said Brian Burns, Vice President, Asia Pacific, at Cloudian. “We look forward to helping CITIC Telecom CPC continue to deliver on this strong customer commitment and further grow its business.”

About CITIC Telecom CPC

We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (“CITIC Telecom CPC”), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing solutions.

As a leading Global Local ICT Solutions Partner with worldwide footprint across East to West and native presence, we truly live our motto, “Innovation Never Stops.” Being a preferred Digital Society Enabler, we lead our key markets at the forefront of pioneering ICT development, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into real-world value for our customers, helping them achieve higher productivity, agility, cost-efficiency, and ultimately, Digital Globalization.

As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017 ICT-related certifications, CITIC Telecom CPC delivers on our superior quality commitment through a broad global self-managed infrastructure encompassing some of the highest growth markets in Asia, Europe and Africa, with over 160 points of presence, 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com.

About Cloudian

Cloudian is the most widely deployed independent provider of object storage systems, with the industry’s most advanced S3 compatibility and an extensive partnership ecosystem. Its award-winning flagship solution, HyperStore, provides limitless scalability and cloud-like technology, flexibility, and economics in the data center. Cloudian’s global data fabric architecture enables enterprises to store, find and protect object and file data seamlessly across sites, both on-premises and in public clouds, within a single, unified platform. Learn more at cloudian.com.

CITIC Telecom CPC Media Contact
Rowena Leung
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
rowena.leung@citictel-cpc.com
+852-2170-7536

Cloudian Media Contact
Jordan Tewell
10Fold Communications
cloudian@10fold.com
+1-415-666-6066

China Securities initiates coverage on YEAHKA LIMITED (9923.HK) with BUY

Chinese investment bank China Securities initiates coverage on YEAHKA LIMITED (9923) with a BUY rating.

In the initiation research report headlined “A Technology-enabled, Industry-leading Mobile Payment Company”, China Securities equity research analyst Ran Zhao is bullish on Yeahka’s addressable market, recognizing the Company’s core competitiveness as “product + channel + ecosystem”.

Key takeaways from the research report include:

Competitive landscape: Market concentration likely to increase
– UnionPay, Lakala and Yeahka are the leading players among third-party non-financial payment service providers. While Yeahka is slightly behind the two peers in terms of transaction volume, it has a larger number of transaction counts. China Securities’ research estimates the market share of these three leading players in China is no more than 30%.

Entry barriers: Limited number of payment licenses
– There are only 31 non-financial payment service providers with national payment licenses in China up to date, of which 16 own a mobile payment license. It is expected that the PBOC will not issue additional payment licenses with ongoing heightened regulatory scrutiny.

Industry outlook: RMB 10 billion+ market ahead
– Increasing penetration of integrated QR code payments could boost one-stop mobile payment services. According to statistics from iResearch and other third-party sources, integrated QR code payment transactions currently accounted for approximately 30% of offline QR code payment transactions, with an average annual transaction volume of more than RMB 200 trillion. Assuming an average payment take rate is 1.5%o, and the market penetration increases 10%, the incremental market size will be RMB 30 billion.
– Yeahka’s technology-enabled business will benefit from the increasing penetration of SaaS. According to China Securities’ conservative estimates, assuming 50% of the 60 million Chinese merchants nationwide purchased SaaS products or services at an annual subscription rate of RMB 1,000, the market size will be RMB 30 billion.

Core competitiveness: product + channel + ecosystem
– Product: as an independent third-party service provider, Yeahka offers SaaS products to help merchants connect with diversified payment, marketing and financial platforms, giving alternative option rather than having to pick between two internet giants.
– Disctribuiton channel: Yeahka’s distribution network spans 8000 partners and more than 300 cities in China. Its payment services served around 4.7 million merchant customers and 491.9 million consumers as of June 30, 2020.
– Ecosystem: Yeahka’s SaaS products developed for merchants include a suite of one-stop payment services, shop operation services and marketing services. The number of technology-enabled service customers reached 585,000 in the first half of 2020.