China Tianrui Group Cement shares drop 99%

China Tianrui Group Cement Co Ltd shares fell 99 per cent to around HKD0.05 (US$0.006) on 9 April, pushing its market capitalisation to HKD141m. About 281m, a third of the company’s shares, changed hands during the sell-off. Of this total, more than 80m shares were traded in the last minutes of the closing auction. The Cayman Island-incorporated company said trading in its Hong Kong-listed shares would be suspended at 9.00h local time on 10 April pending an announcement related to insider information, Bloomberg reported, citing a company filing.

Tianrui recorded a net loss of CNY634m (US$87.7m) in 2023, after a profit CNY449m in 2022. The company attributed the loss to weak demand following the real estate slump in China and increased competition in the market, as well as high raw material costs.

According to a statement filed in January, Li Liufa, Tianrui's majority shareholder, and his wife together own about 70 percent of the company. The cement maker also said at the time that it had pledged 97m shares, or 3.3 per cent of its total shareholding, to secure a 12-month loan of up to CNY166.5m.