Shanghai No 1 People's Intermediate Court ordered three defendants in a stock-trading dispute to return a combined value of about 223 million yuan ($36.4 million) gained from short-swing trades, a report released by the court on May 9 said.

HNA Group, a shareholder of Shanghai Nine Dragon Tourism Co Ltd, brought a suit against the three companies in December.

The court ruled that the three companies' moves were found as short-swing trades.

The court ruled that the three companies shorted shares of Shanghai Nine Dragon Tourism immediately after the shares were transferred to the companies between January and June 2009.

In December, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced that the three companies were not complying with regulations concerning short-swing trading, and urged the board of Shanghai Nine Dragon Tourism to demand the recovery of the gains from the three companies' trades. The CSRC also warned the three companies, and fined each of them 100,000 yuan.

As of May 9, neither the defendants nor plaintiff had submitted an appeal, according to the court.