During the most intense phase of China’s coronavirus outbreak, Anhui Huamao’s cotton spinning and garments business held up, reporting a small loss of Rmb25.6m ($3.6m) over the first three months of the year.
But it was another part of the textiles company — a non-core unit making bets on stocks and other financial products — that really hit trouble. Losses from Huamao’s financial investments were more than six times greater, hitting Rmb168m in the first quarter.
The company is one of nearly 500 listed Chinese groups that posted losses on their financial investments in the first quarter of the year, up from just 165 in the same period last year, according to data from Wind Financial Information.