Nanjing Tanker's share price collapsed in the first week of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange following the company's relisting.
Shares crashed triggering an alert for abnormal trading and forcing its ultimate controlling shareholders to clarify operations.
Having begun trading at CNY 4.31 ($0.64) on Tuesday, Nanjing Tanker shares have fallen through the week to close at CNY 2.83 on Friday.
The SSE has deemed the trading abnormal and briefly halted it twice during the week.
On Friday, Sinotrans & CSC Group, the largest shareholder of Nanjing Tanker, notified the exchange that there is no restructuring, share issue or other corporate matters needed to be disclosed that could affect share price.
China Merchants Group, the parent of Sinotrans & CSC, made a similar statement.
“We didn’t find any other information that could move our share price,” Nanjing Tanker said in a filing.
According to local commentators, the falls of Nanjing shares could be attributed to the broad weakness of Chinese stock markets, the exit of some financial institutions that became Nanjing shareholders via debt-to-equity swaps earlier, and the lack of confidence in Nanjing’s future profitability.
Nanjing Tanker, the first relisted A-share stock in Shanghai, was removed from the exchange in 2014 following four consecutive years of losses.
The company has improved its balance sheet and income statement over the past few years, having sold off its VLCC fleet, carried out debt-to-equity swaps and bought back 12 vessels on financial leases.
Nanjing Tanker recorded net profit of CNY 220m on revenue of CNY 2.59bn in the first three quarters of 2018.
In the most recent three financial years, its net assets value has been positive.
According to the company, Nanjing Tanker is the second largest domestic crude shipping company in China and the world’s fourth largest product tanker owner in international trades.
