Chinese online retail giant 360buy.com Thursday denied previous media reports that it was restarting plans for an initial public offering (IPO), again trying to tame market speculations for its long-awaiting U.S. listing.

The company reportedly has been secretly in touch with several investment banks and presenting them its financial data. According to media reports, the online mall's net sales volume was 21 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion), 22 percent below the 27 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) target announced last September. 360buy.com lost a total of 1.2 billion yuan (US$190.4 million) last year, with a gross margin of 5 percent.

From 2007 to 2011, 360buy.com posted annual growth rate of 350 percent, 266.67 percent, 203.03 percent, 155 percent and 105 percent, respectively, said the media reports.

In the same announcement Thursday, the company also denied providing these financial figures to investment banks.

Contact the writer of this story at: yanp@china.org.cn.

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