Zhongyu Gas 2017 profit soars on China clean fuel drive

Beijing Gas Blue Sky Holdings

22/03/2018 10:35

BEIJING, March 22 (Reuters) - Zhongyu Gas Holding  3633.HK 
said on Thursday its 2017 profit soared 170 percent due to a
huge boost from the rapid pace of China's campaign to switch
millions of households to clean fuel.
    The maker of gas stoves, boilers and pipelines said it
expects to double the number of households it converts to run on
gas this year, as Beijing ramps up its campaign to wean the
nation off its favourite fuel, coal.
    Shares in the company rose to HK$8.4 per share on Thursday,
up from HK$2.09 a year ago. 
    Earnings per share rose to HK$22,100, up from HK$8,160 a
year ago, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange.
    Zhongyu Gas said it aims to convert 800,000 households to
gas this year from coal. New customers connected with its
pipelines grew 40 percent from 2016 to 365,178 families in 2017.
 
    Gas sales rose 35 percent to 1.3 billion cubic meters, the
company said.
    Major cities across China were forced to divert gas supplies
from industrial users for months this winter to residential
sectors to ensure homes were heated during the cold winter
months.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1O83EN
    Both Beijing Gas Blue Skies  6828.HK  and China LNG Group
 0931.HK  issued profit warnings on the high cost of gas this
week. 
    ENN Energy Holdings  2688.HK , a major gas utility and LNG
operator is due to release full-year results later on Thursday.
Its shares have climbed almost 50 percent in the past 12 months.
    

 (Reporting by Meng Meng and Josephine Mason; Editing by Sunil
Nair)
 ((meng.meng@thomsonreuters.com; +86-10-66271220 ; Reuters
Messaging: meng.meng.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))