China State Firm’s $6 Billion Loss Is Among Nation’s Worst Ever
- Qinghai Salt is undergoing a rare court-led debt restructuring
- Company is an important test case as defaults in China rise
A barge pumps brine from an evaporation pond operated by Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co. in Golmud, Qinghai.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A distressed Chinese fertilizer company said it may report one of the nation’s biggest-ever annual losses, sparking a slump in its shares and underscoring the challenges faced by some pockets of corporate China as the economy slows.
State-owned Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co. expects to record a 2019 net loss of as much as 47.2 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) largely due to asset writedowns, an amount that’s nearly twice as big as the company’s market value and one-seventh the size of its home province in northwest China. The stock fell by the 5% daily limit at the open in Shenzhen, before paring its decline to 1.2% at the midday break.