China’s industrial profits in the first two months of this year grew 9.4% from a year earlier, easing from last year’s 12.2% growth. 29 industries out of the 41 being tracked reported higher profits. Two industries taken together – the automobile sector and power generation – contributed 51.2% of the profits in the period. Private businesses reported their profits increased by 16.4%. The profits of foreign-invested companies and those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan rose 14.5%, while profits at state-owned enterprises (SOEs) dipped 0.2%. China’s economy performed weaker than expected at the start of this year. “China’s deceleration was worse than expected, and its first-quarter GDP rate may be below the target of 7.5%,” said Gao Ting, Managing Director and Chief China Strategist at UBS JPMorgan. He cut the full-year growth outlook to 7.2%, which means China may miss its 7.5% target.

Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group, a top Chinese architectural and engineering design company, announced that it has acquired American luxury design firm Wilson Associates. It was the first cross-border acquisition deal in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ). Xian Dai, set up in 1952, has been included in the “Top 150 Global Design Firms” list published by the American magazine “Engineering News Record.” It was ranked 64th in 2012.

China has made progress in developing shale gas equipment with core technologies, industry insiders said. After three years of research and international cooperation, Northern Heavy Industries Group has developed multiple core technologies for fracking equipment, said Chairman Geng Hongchen. This has provided strong equipment support for the commercial exploration of shale gas. China has progressed in shale gas equipment development, said Li Zhibo, Director of the Design Research Institute of the Shenyang-based Northern Heavy Industries. The company will develop high-end core parts for fracking equipment, according to Li. China has the largest recoverable reserves of shale gas in the world, and is targeting 6.5 billion cubic meters of production in 2015, a goal previously deemed difficult to meet due to slow commercial development. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) now has nine wells running at its shale gas fields in Sichuan province, with accumulated production of more than 80 million cu m. More than 110 other wells will be put into operation by the end of the second quarter of next year. As the world’s largest energy user, China is looking to reduce its reliance on imported oil, coal and gas by tapping its rich shale reserves, but complicated pipeline access procedures and geology make its extraction difficult and expensive, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Sinopec said that it had achieved “significant breakthroughs” in the exploration and development of the Fuling shale gas block in Chongqing. The field has reserves of 2.1 trillion cu m. Chairman Fu Chengyu said Sinopec’s two major tasks this year will be business restructuring and upstream shale gas exploration. The company expects that the annual capacity of the Fuling field will reach 1.8 billion cu m by the end of 2014 and 5 billion cu m by 2015. Under the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-15) for the shale gas industry, China aims to achieve total output of 6.5 billion cu m of shale gas by 2015, which means that Sinopec might contribute 77% of the target output.

Shimao Property says it has signed strategic agreements with China’s four biggest banks to provide up to CNY30 billion in mortgage loans to its customers in a bid to meet a 20% increase in sales this year. The developer’s underlying profit, excluding revaluation gains on investment properties, rose 66.8% last year to CNY7.31 billion. It reported 45% growth in revenue to CNY41.5 billion. “We expect Beijing will regulate the property market in those cities with fast growth in home prices through tightening lending for developers and mortgage loans,” Vice Chairman Jason Hui said. “With such a financial arrangement with banks, it will help to speed up our sales as our customers will manage to secure housing loans more easily.” The firm has raised its annual sales target to CNY80 billion this year, 20% higher than last year’s CNY67 billion. Hui said Shimao would not follow some developers in providing second mortgage loans to buyers. Some developers in Guangzhou have reportedly been offering second loans for 20% of the sales price on top of the standard loan for the first 70%, meaning buyers are only required to meet down-payments of 10% of the property’s price. After spending CNY29 billion to acquire 9.36 million square meters of land last year, Hui said the focus this year would be on selling properties to shore up cash flow, the South China Morning Post reports.

Sportswear brand Li Ning plans to focus on the mid-tier market and exit non-sportswear categories after reporting a loss of CNY391.54 million last year, 80% less than the CNY1.98 billion it lost in 2012. Revenue fell 12. 8% to CNY5.82 billion, partly due to a shrinking outlet network. The number of stores fell to 5,915 from 8,255 in 2011. The company said it wanted to turn its focus away from casual wear and back to its core in sportswear while elevating its brand to a more premium position. Li Ning sells three sports shoe lines.