China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd., the nation's largest rare earth producer, released its 2026 interim results, posting a sharp surge in both revenue and profit for the first half of the year, with net profit attributable to shareholders jumping more than 120% year-on-year, buoyed by a recovery in rare earth prices. Meanwhile, Zhang Jianping, a natural-person investor who held the position of fourth-largest shareholder at the end of Q1, appears to have either fully exited or trimmed his stake below the top-10 threshold during Q2.
According to the company's semi-annual report, revenue for H1 2026 reached RMB 25.8 billion, up 36.75% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company came in at approximately RMB 2.05 billion, a sharp increase of 120.46%, with total profit nearly doubling. As profitability improved notably, the weighted average return on equity climbed to 8.02%, up roughly 4 percentage points from the same period last year.
Yet behind the impressive results, a notable shift in the shareholder structure has emerged. Based on the Q1 report, Zhang Jianping held 72.2544 million shares of China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd. as of the end of March 2026, ranking as the fourth-largest shareholder. However, in the top-10 shareholder list disclosed in the interim report, his name has vanished entirely, indicating that during Q2 he reduced his holdings to a level below the threshold for the top-10 list.
Significant profit leap and marked improvement in profitability
The company's H1 performance reflects a broad recovery across the board. Revenue reached RMB 25.8 billion, up 36.75% year-on-year; total profit hit roughly RMB 2.98 billion, a 94.37% increase; net profit attributable to shareholders rose 120.46% to about RMB 2.05 billion; and net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses grew an even faster 128.79% to around RMB 2.05 billion.
Basic earnings per share stood at RMB 0.5679, up 120.46% from RMB 0.2576 in the prior-year period. Total assets reached RMB 51.7 billion, an increase of 7.46% from the end of last year, while net assets attributable to shareholders rose 6.46% to approximately RMB 26.3 billion.
Net cash flow from operating activities totaled about RMB 1.21 billion, up 30.57% year-on-year, indicating a simultaneous improvement in operational quality. The debt-to-asset ratio inched up to 36.98% from 35.89% at the end of last year. The EBITDA interest coverage ratio climbed to 34.60, well above the 14.95 recorded a year earlier, showing a clear strengthening of debt-servicing capacity.
Zhang Jianping exits top-10 shareholder list in Q2
On the shareholder front, the controlling shareholder, Baotou Steel (Group) Co., Ltd., maintained a stable position with a 38.03% stake, holding approximately 1.375 billion shares. Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Ltd. and Jiaxin Co., Ltd. ranked as the second- and third-largest shareholders with stakes of 2.60% and 2.59%, respectively.
Notably, Zhang Jianping, who had entered as the fourth-largest shareholder at the end of Q1 with 72.2544 million shares, representing about 0.20% of the total, is no longer visible in the top-10 shareholder list as of June 30, 2026, the cutoff date for the semi-annual report. This implies he significantly reduced his stake during Q2, bringing his holdings below the threshold for the tenth-largest shareholder. The interim report offers no explanation for this change, and the exact timing and scale of the reduction remain unclear.
Among the current top-10 shareholders, aside from natural-person investors Wang Bin, holding 0.85%, and Fu Xiaotong, holding 0.42%, the remaining seats are occupied by institutional investors, including several ETFs tracking the nonferrous metals and rare earth sectors.
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