H1 results confirm strength of real economy

BEIJING — Strong performance of listed Chinese companies in the first half offered a glimpse into the strength and positive changes in the country's economy.

Listed companies on the A-share market were required to file their second-quarter reports with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges before the end of August.

Combined revenues of all listed companies on the market stood at 20.81 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) in the first half, while the net profits were about 2 trillion yuan, both rising by more than 10 percent year-on-year, new data from the bourses showed.

Firms listed in Shanghai saw revenue and profit growth rates at 11 percent and 14 percent respectively, while companies listed in Shenzhen witnessed rates of 17.24 percent and 16.86 percent.

As the country moved to enhance support for the real economy, Shanghai-listed companies in the real economy reported revenue growth of 13 percent and profit growth of 25 percent, much faster than the 7-percent revenue and profit growth of financial companies there.

Firms in the real economy contributed 41 percent to the net profits of companies on the Shanghai bourse, up 4 percentage points year-on-year.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said last month that it had encouraged banks and insurance companies to increase funding to meet the financing demand of the real economy.

The commission urged banking and insurance institutions to make full use of current favorable conditions including abundant liquidity and declining financing costs to raise their financing support for the real economy.

In the first half, Shanghai-listed companies in the real economy reported total financing of around 4.5 trillion yuan, up 9 percent year-on-year, with the majority of the financing coming from the banking system.

The central bank will raise the capacity and willingness of financial institutions to serve the real economy to create a moderate financial environment for supply-side structural reform and high-quality development, according to the central bank's second-quarter report.

Thanks to the supply-side structural reform, the crude oil, steel and non-ferrous metal sectors all experienced breathtaking growth in revenues and profits.

Net profits of steel companies listed in Shanghai surged 134 percent year-on-year in the first half, partly due to the country’s firm stance on eliminating excess production capacity.

In the first seven months of 2018, China cut outdated crude steel capacity by 24.7 million tonnes, completing more than 80 percent of this year's capacity-cut target of 30 million tons, according to latest data from the National Development and Reform Commission.

Net profits of the crude oil and non-ferrous metal sectors on the Shanghai bourse both surged by 75 percent year-on-year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange said.

On the Shenzhen bourse, 957 companies in new strategic sectors, such as new energy and high-end equipment manufacturing, achieved growth of more than 20 percent in both revenue and profits.

China's economy expanded 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, above the annual target of around 6.5 percent.