China's Shenhua falls 12 pct after yearly results

Shares in China's Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, the world's top coal producer by market value, fell more than 12 percent on Monday after it posted lower-than-expected 2007 earnings.

Shenhua's net profit rose 16.6 percent to 20.58 billion yuan ($2.90 billion) last year from 17.64 billion yuan in 2006, lagging an average forecast for 22.1 billion yuan from 22 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Its stock fell HK$4.35 to HK$31.80 in early Hong Kong trade.

The lower-than-expected earnings implied its second half profit was flat compared with the first half, due to lower-than-expected coal prices, Goldman Sachs said in a research note on Monday.

But the stock had outperformed the market last year, jumping 149 percent against a 56 percent gain in the index of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong .