China's listed companies see profit growth slow dramatically in 1H
26/8/2008 17:07
Listed companies' profits grew less than half as fast in the first half of
2008 as they did a year earlier, the Shanghai Securities News reported
today.
The newspaper said as of yesterday, 1,178 listed companies, or 72.8
percent of the total, had released interim statements.
These reports showed
they earned 323.14 billion yuan (US$47.2 billion) in all, up 30.9 percent
year-on-year. The year-earlier growth rate was 70 percent.
Revenue grew 28.4
percent to 3.13 trillion yuan, but operating cashflow contracted sharply,
falling 60 percent to 412.92 billion yuan.
The newspaper said profits were
affected by an economic slowdown and a weak domestic stock market, while last
year's results were boosted by a bullish equity market. The stock market has
declined by more than half since it peaked last fall.
Gross domestic product
growth was 10.4 percent in the first half, 1.8 percentage points lower than the
same period last year, amid slowing world economic activity and domestic
policies intended to cool China's economy.
Although more than 20 percent of
listed companies have yet to release half-year results, analysts said overall
corporate profit growth would likely come in between 20 percent and 30
percent.
Xinhua
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