(Yicai Global) Oct. 15 -- Shares in Wuhan Sante Cableways Group, a Chinese tourism company that has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, advanced today on the news that it is to raise CNY133 million (USD19.8 million) by selling some of its assets.

The firm's share price [SHE:002159] gained 4.36 percent to close at CNY11.96 (USD1.78).

The Wuhan-based company has sold its sightseeing bus business at southwestern Guizhou province’s Fanjing mountain, although it is holding onto its more profitable cable car business at the location, it said yesterday. It has also divested a management firm that runs a tourist attraction in Guizhou's Wuling mountains.

The sale should gift Sante Cableways CNY57 million (USD8.5 million) in profit which will be a lifeline for the cash-strapped firm, a company executive said. This comes on top of a further CNY210 million that the firm earned through the sale of equity and real estate earlier in the year.

Sante Cableways had to suspend operations at more than 20 tourist sites, including scenic spots, cable cars, hotels and hot springs, across nine provinces after Jan. 22 due to the pandemic, he added. Although many of these sites have since re-opened, footfall is significantly lower than in previous years. Epidemic control measures limit the number of visitors to 30 percent of its maximum capacity and people remain reluctant to travel.

The firm expects to post a net loss of as much as CNY12 million (USD1.8 million) in the first three quarters, compared with profit of CNY18 million over the same period last year, according to its third-quarter results’ forecast published yesterday.

However, things are looking up. Sante Cableways finally turned a profit in the third quarter with operating income back to 70 percent of last year’s levels and September revenue came to 90 percent of what it was last year, the company said. This week the cable car operator signed a deal to manage the alpine ski cableways for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor