THE suspension of trading in China International Marine Containers (CIMC) shares continued as speculation grew about big losses the company had suffered in the first half.

These reports followed a July 14 board statement, which said that the container maker CIMC's first half results would be well off those the profits of 2011, reported London's Containerisation International. Soon after that, major shareholder China Merchants Holdings said it "expected a significant decline in profit" at CIMC.



China Merchants also referred to the 55-75 per cent profit fall and that had been cited by CIMC in an earlier announcement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which projected first half net profits to fall to CNY701.9 million (US$111.2 million) from CNY2.81 billion year on year.



Poor results were attributed to a weak first quarter in which container lines still held back on buying new containers, and lessors, with heavy investment in new equipment last year, reduced their purchasing programmes.



Global market uncertainty is also blamed with east-west trades under pressure and emerging markets not producing anticipated volumes.