BEIJING,
July 11 -- Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd, the country's first
overseas-listed company, has announced it's pulling out of the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) because of falling trading volume and rising costs.
The partner of German premium carmaker BMW AG said in
a statement that it resolved to withdraw its American depositary shares (ADSs),
each representing 100 ordinary shares with a par value of $0.01, from the NYSE,
where it listed in 1992.
Brilliance attributed the delisting plan to the
decline in its ADS trading volume and the increase in administrative costs to
comply with US reporting and registration obligations.
However, the carmaker plans to maintain its American
Depositary Receipt program with Bank of New York, the depositary bank for its
ADSs, it said.
Its ADSs will continue to be traded on
over-the-counter markets.
The carmaker added that its ordinary shares would
continue to be listed on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Brilliance floated shares in Hong Kong in 1999.
Yesterday, it closed at HK$2.16 per share, down 0.92 percent.
Li Chunbo, an auto industry analyst with CITIC
Securities Co in Beijing, said Brilliance's decision to withdraw from NYSE is a
"very understandable" move as it failed to raise sufficient money in the world's
top bourse.
"The company, which has been in the red for many
years, is not pursued by investors in New York," Li said.
Its daily trading volume in New York only stood at
63,000 shares on average in the past three months, according to market data.
Li said the company will possibly return to the
booming domestic stock market, where the Shanghai Composite Index has surged by
two-fifths this year.
Brilliance said it expected to return to profit in
the first half of this year, helped by buoyant vehicle sales.
Its January-June sales jumped by 58 percent
year-on-year to 146,000 vehicles, including 15,165 fat-margin BMW sedans
assembled at a venture with the German carmaker in northeastern city of
Shenyang.
Brilliance posted 398 million yuan in losses last
year. In 2005, it lost 650 million yuan.
The company is also making its own-brand Zhonghua
sedans and Jinbei minivans in Shenyang.
It sold 7,000 own-brand vehicles abroad in the first
half of this year, the sales of which rocketed 125 percent.
(Source: China Daily)
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