2012 Interim Results Highlights:

    Turnover grew 22.01% year-on-year to RMB 22,537 million.

    Sales volume increased 7.82% year-on-year to 9.05 million tonnes.

    Gross profit surged 26.59% year-on-year to RMB 1,469 million.

    Profit attributable to shareholders of the Company advanced 9.93% year-on-year to 546 million. If the effect of the change in fair value in     derivative component of convertible loan notes were excluded, it would have grown 21.53% year-on-year.

(23 August 2012, Hong Kong) Sinofert Holdings Limited ("Sinofert" or the "Company") (stock code: 00297) today announced the interim results of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") for the six months ended 30 June 2012 (the ¨Period〃).

During the Period, the fertilizer sector remained resilient while the Chinese government stepped up efforts in promoting the agricultural development to safeguard the countryˇs food security. The Group captured business opportunities arising from the sector to drive steady business growth. Sales volume increased 7.82% year-on-year to 9.05 million tonnes in the first half of 2012. Turnover for the Period grew 22.01% year-on-year to RMB 22,537 million. Profit attributable to shareholders of the Company advanced 9.93% year-on-year to RMB 546 million. If the effect of the change in fair value in derivative component of convertible loan notes were excluded, the growth rate would have been 21.53% year-on-year. Basic earnings per share were RMB 7.77 fen, up 9.90% from the same period last year.

Leveraging a complete value chain to drive sales growth for major products

The Group further strengthened its value chain extending from upstream to downstream and pushed for business reform and innovation. In addition, it enhanced marketing efforts and actively expanded its customer base. By acquiring Xundian Lomon early this year, the Group secured 300 million tonnes of phosphate resources, thereby becoming one of top 10 phosphate enterprises in China by phosphate resources.

Turnover of phosphate fertilizers for the first half of this year soared 40.66% year-on-year to RMB 5,236 million, while that of potash fertilizers and nitrogen fertilizers rose 13.48% and 18.03% year-on-year respectively to RMB 5,355 million and RMB 7,669 million. Turnover of compound fertilizers climbed 20.16% to RMB 3,453 million from a year ago.

Sales volume of phosphate fertilizers for the Period jumped 33.39% year-on-year as the Group reinforced cooperation with supplier alliance and secured stable supply from its subsidiaries and associates. Meanwhile, sales volume of potash fertilizers grew modestly at 4.10% from the same period last year, with the Group retained competitive edges in sea-borne potash operations. Leveraging on its complete value chain, the Group achieved a 8.26% growth year-on-year in sales volume of compound fertilizers as it obtained stable supply from the subsidiaries in upstream and boosted sales through the distribution network in downstream. Sales volume of nitrogen fertilizers for the Period slightly increased when compared with the same period last year.

Production, sales and profit climbed on implementation of six major strategies

Mr. Feng Zhi Bin, CEO of Sinofert, commented, ¨Both of global and domestic economies remained challenging in the first half of 2012. Nevertheless, Chinaˇs agricultural sector grew steadily amid a series of the governmentˇs supportive and favourable policies. The Group strengthened market analysis and took advantage of the changes in market environment to implement six major strategies on ˉmarketing, industry, resources, technology, information and human resourcesˇ for further enhancement of its core competitiveness. It is noteworthy that production, sales and profits for all of our production subsidiaries in the first half improved from the same period last year. We acquired Xundian Lomon early this year. This project not only allows us to get access to rich phosphate resources, thereby ensuring our sustainable growth in the future, but also generated RMB 35 million in profit in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, various major indicators showed that the resources consumption by our production subsidiaries reduced as we strengthened their management. They did an excellent job in emissions and resources consumption reduction and cost control. As for distribution operations, we continued the intrinsic development of our distribution network, laying a solid foundation for our persistent growth.〃

Steady growth in output of production subsidiaries

During the Period, total output of the Groupˇs production subsidiaries reached 2.02 million tonnes, up 7.44% year-on-year. Their profit before tax jumped more than 16-fold to RMB 215 million from a year ago. Urea production of Sinochem Pingyuan and Sinochem Changshan experienced phenomenal growth. The daily output of Sinochem Pingyuan and Sinochem Changshan stabilized at 2,900 tonnes and 920 tonnes, respectively. In addition, the expansion project for Sinochem Changshan received official approval in June 2012. Its total investment was RMB 1,198 million. The project is expected to commence production two years later. The annual production capacity of Sinochem Changshanˇs synthetic ammonia and urea operations will then increase to 0.36 million tonnes and 0.6 million tonnes, respectively.

Distribution network

In the first half of 2012, 50 out of the Groupˇs existing 2,110 distribution centres were optimized. While actively exploring new channels for its distribution network, the Group also provided direct sales services to large customers and comprehensive services such as soil testing, formula fertilization and guidance to customers. It made continuing efforts in customer management and reinforced the cooperation with local agricultural agencies to strengthen its service support capability.

Outlook and Strategies

Going forward, Mr. Feng Zhi Bin said, ¨As a number of major grain production areas were severely affected by natural disasters, we believe the global food supply will remain tight in the foreseeable future. Besides, in the face of accelerating urbanization process in China, the government will further its efforts in driving the healthy development of agricultural sector to ensure stable food supply. To sum up, the macro conditions provide a favourable environment for the fertilizer sector. In light of the complicated economic environment, the Group will continue the implementation of six major strategies. While exercising stringent risk management, we will prudently identify opportunities to acquire natural resources such as coal, natural gas and potash around the world. Moreover, the management of our production subsidiaries will be further enhanced so as to lower their costs and increase their efficiency. We will also drive technological innovation and ensure production safety in these subsidiaries. For the distribution operations, we will pursue a customer-driven approach in marketing and push for reform and innovation in distribution network. The Group will grasp arising opportunities to ensure its sustainable growth, thereby creating greater value to shareholders, customers, the society and employees.〃

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Background of Sinofert Holdings Limited

Listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 28 July 2005, Sinofert Holdings Limited specializes in the supply of agriculture related products including fertilizers. It implements a strategy of ¨centering on marketing and distribution and expanding into both production and network distribution〃 to develop a complete value chain, which covers R&D, production, import & export, distribution and retail, as well as agrichemical services. Sinofert, the largest fertilizer enterprise integrating production, supply and sales in China, is the flagship company of Sinochem Corporation, one of the largest state-owned enterprises in the PRC in terms of turnover. Sinochem Corporation was established in 1950 and has been named one of the Fortune Global 500 for 22 consecutive years. Its ranking climbed to the 113th in 2012, up 55 spots from 2011. It mainly engages in agriculture, energy, chemicals, property and finance operations.

This press release is distributed by PRChina Limited on behalf of Sinofert Holdings Limited.

Investor and media enquiries:

David Shiu / Henry Chik / Camille Xiong
PRChina Limited
Tel: (852) 2522 1838 / 2522 1368 / 2521 2823
Fax: (852) 2521 9955
E-mail: dshiu@prchina.com.hk / hchik@prchina.com.hk / cxiong@prchina.com.hk

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