The board of directors of CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd. announced that the Board anticipates that the group will record a very significant net loss for the year ending 31 December 2015 against net profit of HKD 270,415,000. The following are the principal factors for the expected net loss of the Group: a substantial loss from the Group's oil business is expected for 2015 due primarily to low oil prices amid continuing market oversupply. Global oil prices which began falling in the second half of 2014 have remained at low levels during 2015 with an average Brent price of $53.3 per barrel so far in 2015 (2014: average Brent price of $99.4 per barrel); as disclosed in the Company's 2015 interim report, the Group's import and export of commodities business (the Commodities Business) recorded a material decrease in both revenue and profit during 1H 2015 with the relative slowdown in major markets, especially China, heightened competition and the recovery from the loss of key customers in the second half of 2014 continuing to prove extremely challenging conditions.

With no discernible recovery in the commodities markets, these factors have dogged the Commodities Business during the second half of 2015. As a result, the Commodities Business has also performed poorly in the second half of 2015 and will record a material decrease in trading volume and significant reduction in profit for 2015 as compared to 2014; as a result of oil and commodities prices having traded for some time, and continuing to trade, at depressed levels and with little prospect for any meaningful recovery in the near term, a number of substantial impairments will need to be recorded across the Group's assets, including its investments in CITIC Dameng Holdings Limited (CDH), an associate of the Group, and CITIC Canada Energy Limited, a joint venture; a significant decrease in the fair value of the Group's investment in Alumina Limited (AWC), a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, is expected to be recorded by the Group. The Group currently owns 9.6846% of the shares of AWC and these shares are measured at their fair value based on the closing price of AWC shares at the end of each reporting period.

Any difference between the fair value and the carrying value is recognised in the consolidated income statement; further material write-offs will be made in respect of the Group's inventories stored at Qingdao port, China due to the lack of progress in the related legal proceedings and as the Company has not received any information in respect of the progress of the investigation by the Chinese authorities into the allegedly fraudulent multiple use of warehouse receipts in respect of certain aluminum and copper products stored at Qingdao port; and a share of loss will be recorded for 2015 with respect to the group's interest in CDH and its subsidiaries as the CDH Group expects to record a loss attributable to shareholders of CDH for 2015, as disclosed by CDH in its announcement dated 3 December 2015.