China's Yangtze Power Co Ltd, operator of the nation's biggest hydropower project of Three Gorges, lowers its earnings estimate in first quarter from the year earlier, due to the rising costs and less power generation.

The company said Wednesday it expects the net profit will drop between 30 and 40 percent in first quarter of this year, while earnings per share will fall 40 to 50 percent, compared with the same time of last year.

Surging costs are most from financial costs, policy changes and the impact of depreciation.

The electricity generation of Yangtze Power dropped 2.67% to 5.62 billion kWh in first quarter. The agreement with parent group limited its share of real generation.

The Shanghai-list company's stock fell 9.16 percent to 12.30 yuan after midday, near the day cap of 10 percent.

China