China
Mobile Wireless
- China Mobile Hong Kong delivers its first dividend, triggering this year's largest one-day share-price gain by the telecommunications firm. The mainland's No 1 mobile operator will pay a final dividend of 32 cents per share, or 20 per cent of its earnings, which rose 17 per cent last year to 32.74 billion yuan. Analysts said a dividend yield of 1.91 per cent was unlikely to fuel further gains. Also, China Mobile is squeezing its capital-spending budget, further increasing the pressure on Ericsson and other suppliers of network equipment. Announcing its annual results, China Mobile trimmed its capital-expenditure budget for 2003 to $5.6 billion from $5.8 billion. The...