Shanghai listed firms see double-digit earnings growth

SHANGHAI — Firms listed on the Shanghai stock exchange saw double-digit revenue and profit growth in the first nine months of the year, boosted by a resilient economy, the exchange said Wednesday.

By the end of October, 1,368 firms had published their quarterly reports, with nearly 60 percent posting revenue and profit growth, it said.

Statistics showed that the combined revenue reached 20.67 trillion yuan ($3.1 trillion) in the January-September period, up 17.7 percent year-on-year, the exchange said.

Meanwhile, combined profit totalled 2.04 trillion yuan, up 16.7 percent year-on-year.

China's supply-side structural reform has improved the earnings of traditional companies while firms from many new industries reported robust growth, a sign of improved economic growth, the bourse said.

Non-financial companies reported a combined revenue of 16.08 trillion yuan, up 21.3 percent year-on-year. Their net earnings rose 39.5 percent to 760 billion yuan.

During the period, China's four biggest State-owned banks saw non-performing loans ratios down by 0.02 to 0.4 percentage points from the end of last year.

Meanwhile, the four leading insurance companies, namely China Life, Ping An Insurance, China Taiping and New China Insurance, saw net profits rise 30 percent year-on-year to 109.1 billion yuan.

In the first three quarters, more than 180 new firms were listed on the Shanghai stock exchange. They posted 17.7 percent growth in revenue and 28.1 percent growth in net profit.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.08 percent higher at 3,395.91 points Wednesday. It has gained 9.4 percent this year.