China Direct

2011-12 British Business Climate Survey in China - Summary

 

[Images courtesy of www.cbbc.org and www.britishchamber.cn]

The CBI would like to thank our partners at the CBBC and British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing for sharing the findings of the 2011-12 British Business Climate Survey in China.

The results of the 2012 Business Climate Survey indicate increasing optimism about the outlook for revenue growth in 2012. The survey clearly demonstrates the growing importance of China to many companies as a driver of corporate growth, evidenced by plans to increase investments in China this year.

However, companies continue to acknowledge the complexity of the operating environment, especially in terms of rising labour costs, increasing local competition and the ongoing challenges of IPR & legal enforcement, protectionism and bureaucracy.

 Despite this, most UK companies remain confident about the outlook for their business in China.

 The key messages that arise from this survey are the following:

 

• Despite worries over the global economic outlook and rising domestic competition, performance in 2011 was generally positive with the majority of respondents seeing an increase in revenue.

 

• China remains a key market, with the majority of respondents planning an increase in investment and remaining positive in their expectations for the coming year.

 

• Human resource issues continue to be a substantial challenge for business, with members tackling increasing labour costs and problems attracting and retaining skilled staff.

 

• Whilst domestic competition still struggles to compete in terms of technical innovation and management expertise, they showed significant improvement in marketing and branding.

 

• The key business challenges facing those in the China market continue to be bureaucracy, securing licences and protecting intellectual property.

 

• Despite intellectual property rights being cited as an important factor in China operations, the number of infringements that actually harmed operations was relatively low.

 

To download the full survey please click below:

Download 2012_china_business_climate_survey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alliance Boots announces China growth for 2011-12

 

[Image courtesy of www.allianceboots.com]

CBI member Alliance Boots recently released its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2012, reporting revenue up 18.4% to £23 billion and underlying profit after tax up 10.2% to £693 million.

Alliance Boots continued to grow strongly in China as Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation, its joint venture in the country, made several acquisitions during the year to strengthen its position in key regional provinces. The joint venture performed well with good revenue growth, margin management, and control over costs, enabling the business to significantly improve profitability.

Commenting on Alliance Boots' preliminary results, Stefano Pessina, Executive Chairman, said, "Alliance Boots has again delivered double digit growth in trading profit while at the same time generating a strong operating cash flow to fund investment in growth and substantially reduce net borrowings. This performance, which reflects the excellent work of our teams, has been achieved through a combination of organic growth and benefits from the previous year's acquisitions, is particularly encouraging given the challenging economic environment.

"In the coming year, we expect the economic environment to remain difficult with continuing pressure on both consumer and governmental expenditure. This will generate both challenges and new opportunities for us.

"We are confident about our future prospects and ability to pursue profitable growth, both organically and through further international expansion. This will be supported by our strong operating cash flow and secure funding arrangements, which will enable us to continue to invest while at the same time reducing net borrowings. The development of new and existing partnerships will be a key component of our future growth."

Please click here to read the full results for Alliance Boots.

Pfizer announces good China growth results

 

[Image courtesy of www.pfizer.com]

CBI member Pfizer recently released its results for the first quarter of 2012, reporting revenues from its Emerging Markets unit up 9% operationally in comparison to a year earlier.

The strong performance was primarily due to continued volume growth across the product portfolio, particularly in China, Russia, and Mexico, as a result of more focused, targeted promotional efforts for key products.

Pfizer's Nutrition unit revenues increased 8% operationally compared to a year earlier, driven by the continued benefits from successful new product launches, increased promotional activities, and overall strength in key markets, most notably China.

Please click here to read Pfizer's full results for the first quarter.

CBI member success stories in China Feb 2012

 

[Image courtesy of www.cbi.org.uk]

February 2012 was a bumper month for CBI members in China with at least 29 (matching the leap day!) confirmed successes that China Direct is aware of.

Member contributions came from:

• ABB
• Accenture
• Alstom
• Arup
• BAA
• BBC
• Benoy
• BMW
• BP
• Burberry
• Clifford Chance
• Devro
• Ernst & Young
• Eversheds
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Herbert Smith
• HSBC
• IHG
• INEOS
• J.P. Morgan
• Pfizer
• McKinsey
• Nike
• RBS
• Standard Chartered
• Thales
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Leeds
• WPP

China Direct would like to say a huge thank you to all of our members for their contributions and also to Ben Cooper at the CBI's Beijing office for patiently collating the information.

Please find our Feb 2012 summary below:

Download CBI China, Celebrating member success in China, February 2012

CBI Member China Successes in Dec 2011

 

[Image courtesy of www.cbi.org.uk]

Kindly find attached more than 19 CBI member success stories that China Direct collected in December 2011.

Ranging from education to engineering and airports to AstraZeneca this snapshot of the best of CBI business shows just how commercially successful our membership has been throughout 2011.

China Direct looks forward to sharing even more success stories from its members in the fast approaching Year of the Dragon.

 Please download the full list of CBI successes below:

 Download CBI China, Celebrating member success in China, December 2011

Investment is the best medicine - UK Company AstraZeneca to acquire Guangdong based Beikang Pharma

[Image courtesy of www.astrazeneca.com]

CBI member AstraZeneca entered into an agreement to acquire Guangdong BeiKang Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., a privately-owned Chinese generics manufacturing company based in southern China's Guangdong province. The acquisition will provide AstraZeneca with access to a portfolio of injectable medicines used to treat infections that AstraZeneca will make available to patients in China.

Following the expected completion of the transaction in the first quarter of 2012, AstraZeneca will be responsible for the manufacture and commercialisation of these medicines.

AstraZeneca's acquisition will accelerate the company's 'broad market' strategy, which aims to increase the accessibility and affordability of medicines for wider patient populations that are currently underserved.

Mark Mallon, President of AstraZeneca’s Asia-Pacific region, said, "AstraZeneca continues to invest in the key emerging markets such as China where the combination of growing populations, elevated levels of chronic diseases, and increasing income are driving demand and expectations for better healthcare treatment. Our new acquisition further underscores our intention to serve the health needs of Chinese patients through our innovative medicines and, increasingly, high quality branded generic treatments that are locally produced to global standards."

AstraZeneca expects emerging markets to account for approximately 25% of its global sales by 2014, up from 17% in the third quarter this year.

Please click here to read the full press release by AstraZeneca and here for additional media coverage.

Celebrating UK and international CBI member success in China: Nov 2011

[Image courtesy of www.cbi.org.uk]

Dear China Direct readers, 

Kindly find more than 25 examples of UK and international CBI member companies that are celebrating business success in China in November 2011.

Download CBI China, Celebrating member success in China, November 2011

This will mark the 300th entry since China Direct went live back in June 2009.

Please let the CBI team in Beijing (ben.cooper@cbi.org.uk tel: 00 86 10 85253100) know if your company would like to share your China business news with the CBI's international member network.

Many thanks.

UK-China 2011Trade Statistics - room for improvement

[Image courtesy of www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk]

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in Beijing has kindly prepared an overview of the latest UK-China trade and investment statistics.

Highlights include:

UK imports of goods from China (Jan-Aug 2011): £18.6 billion.

UK exports of goods to China: £5.5 billion.

Total trade volume of goods between China and the UK: £24.1 billion. 

Total 2010 UK-China trade volume in services: £3.374 billion.

The UK exported £2.131 billion worth of services to China.

China exported £1.243 billion worth of services to the UK.

UK was China's top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the EU in 2010.

The UK's FDI into China reached $1.62 billion in 2010, up 10% over the previous year. 

The UK was the fourth largest destination for China's direct investment in the EU in 2010.

China's outbound foreign direct investment in the UK reached  $330.33 million in 2010.

As of the end of August 2011, there were eight Chinese companies listed on the LSE main market, with a total market value of £15.6 billion.

There were 43 Chinese companies listed on the LSE AIM, with a total market capitalisation of £3.5 billion.

Please click here to read the full overview by UKTI.

CBI Member China Success Stories Oct 2011

[Image courtesy of www.cbi.org.uk]

The CBI has tracked more than 15 CBI member companies and their successes in China for October 2011.

Kindly refer to the attachment below for more information.

If we have missed out your company then my apologies - please let CBI China know of your latest news and we will circulate it via our member network in China and internationally.

Thank you very much for your ongoing support of China Direct.

Download CBI China, Member Success Stories, October 2011

CBI Member Astrazeneca expands its China presence

[Image courtesy of www.astrazeneca.com]

Earlier this week, leading UK pharmaceutical company and CBI member AstraZeneca announced that it will invest $200 million in a new manufacturing facility in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

Located in Taizhou, the new site represents AstraZeneca's largest-ever investment in a single manufacturing facility globally.

With construction scheduled to be completed at the end of 2013, the new facility will produce both intravenous and oral solid medicines for AstraZeneca's growing business in China.

Commenting on the new investment, Mark Mallon, President of AstraZeneca China, said, "AstraZeneca has been putting down deep and broad roots in China for many years, which will be further strengthened by this $200 million investment. Our new manufacturing facility will complement our efforts to meet the medical needs of Chinese patients with medicines that are locally produced. In particular, it will help us reach out to more of the estimated 900 million people in urban and rural communities who have had less access to high quality medicines."

Please click here to read the full press release by AstraZeneca and here for additional media coverage.