(Yicai) Oct. 31 -- Chinese state-owned enterprises listed in Shanghai upped their spending on research and development in the third quarter from a year ago, according to the earnings reports so far released by these companies.

Their R&D outlays rose 3.7 percent to CNY151.5 billion (USD20.7 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, the reports showed.

As of yesterday, there were 274 centrally administrated SOEs listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with a total market value of about CNY24.2 trillion (USD3.3 trillion). Some 215 of them, or 80 percent, have published their third-quarter earnings reports so far.

R&D spending at 57 SOEs accounted for more than 5 percent of their revenue in the quarter. Meanwhile, the 25 listed on the SSE’s Nasdaq-like Star Market that have released reports spent a combined CNY7 billion (USD957 million), equal to 7.7 percent of their revenue.

The total spent by Shanghai-listed centrally administrated SOEs rose to over CNY420 billion last year from about CNY55.7 billion (USD7.6 billion) 10 years earlier, growing at a compound annual rate of 22 percent.

The average share of spending on R&D to revenue at the SOEs has risen to 2.3 percent from 1.2 percent. Last year, among the top 20 Shanghai-listed companies for R&D expenditure, 15 were centrally administrated SOEs.

Combined revenue and net profit at the 215 Shanghai-listed SOEs that have released earnings reports rose 2.1 percent and 7.2 percent to CNY14.4 trillion and CNY1.7 trillion (USD232.3 billion), respectively.

Some 181 central SOEs listed on the SSE reported a profit, accounting for 84 percent of the total. Of them, 107 achieved growth in net profit from a year earlier, equal to about half of the total. Some 126 of them logged an increase in revenue, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total.

Shanghai-listed central SOEs are also the main cash cows on the bourse, despite only 80 percent of them paying dividends. Last year, these firms paid out a total of about CNY1.1 trillion, accounting for 61 percent of all dividends disbursed by Shanghai-listed companies. The figure for the past three years was CNY2.6 trillion, making up 60 percent of the total.

Editor: Futura Costaglione