China Publishing Group Corp, a large State-owned publishing group, has begun preparing for a whole listing and planned to float on the A-share market by the end of this year as previously scheduled, the China Business News reported on Sunday.
The listing will include its contents and publishing businesses, Nie Zhenning, president of the company, told the newspaper.
China Publishing Group was set up in April 2002 with the approval of the State Council, China s Cabinet, and transformed to China Publishing Group Corp in March 2004.
Currently the group has more than 70 subsidiaries, holding companies and joint stock companies, owning 29 presses, 44 magazines and three newspapers. It has 220 chain bookstores and outlets in China and 23 chain bookstores and offices overseas.
In 2008, the sales revenue of the group totaled 3.8 billion yuan ($556.65 million), an increase of 8.6 percent year-on-year, and the total profits amounted to 225 million yuan, up 38 percent. The total assets of the group were 6.34 billion yuan.
