1550 publicly-listed companies have released their 1Q 2008 Reports on time. Though the overall performance marked growth, the growth had slowed. According to Wind Info, the country's leading financial data provider, 1Q 2008 Reports showed publicly-listed companies made RMB 2601.80 bln in revenue, with a net profit of RMB 284 bln. Excluding IPO factors, these two figures were 26.75% and 29.54% more than that of the first quarter in 2007.

The banking, oil and coal mining sectors have made great contributions to the overall growth in the first quarter. Net profit from the banking sector accounted for over 40% of all net profit made in the first quarter. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC: 601398) topped all companies in net profit. The other top four earners were China Construction Bank (601939), PetroChina Company Ltd (601857) and Bank of China Limited (601998).

Following analysis of the performance of listed companies, experts suggest great changes in the macroeconomic situation and the government’s macro-controls had gradually showed their impacts. Thanks to the soaring price in grain and energy raw materials, the average profit of mining companies made 86% YOY growth, with RMB 0.2473 in weighted average earnings per share, second only to the finance and insurance industry (RMB 0.2483); earnings per share of companies in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors increased by approximately 88% YOY, and average earnings per share increased roughly 90% YOY. Real estate companies met setbacks in the first quarter, as weighted average earnings per share of this sector were 19% lower than that in the first quarter of 2007.

Publicly-listed companies raked in RMB 61.53 bln in investment returns, which was 21.67% of all net profit in the first quarter. Due to the stock market's nose-dive, companies involved in investment in the stock market were severely impacted, and some companies saw decreased profits and even red in their balance sheets.

Source: China Business News

Date: 5 May 2008

CN01/MZ/KM/WH