(Yicai Global) Aug. 10 -- Shares in Qinghai Salt Lake Industry soared four-fold after the previously bankrupt operator of China’s largest potash fertilizer industrial production base returned to profitability and was reinstated on the Shenzhen board today after a 15-month-long suspension.

Salt Lake’s share price [SHE:000792] finished the day at CNY35.90 (USD5.54). In China, no ceiling is set on the first day that stocks resume trading after a period of suspension. Normal daily trading limits are 10 percent.

Salt Lake was taken off the bourse after the Golmud, western Qinghai province-based firm suffered a string of losses in the three years starting 2017, hemorrhaging more than CNY5.3 billion (USD8.2 billion), due to poor investments in magnesium and chemical projects. In 2019 it was declared bankrupt and started restructuring.

Since then Salt Lake has staged a turnaround and last year posted profit of CNY2 billion (USD308.5 million). It divested all its loss-making businesses to focus on its core potash and feedstock businesses. The Qinghai State-owned Assets Investment Management’s stake has halved to 14 percent, but it still remains the largest shareholder.

Editor: Kim Taylor