(Yicai) Oct. 27 -- China Mobile and China Telecom, two of the country’s major telecoms carriers,  are among the Shanghai-listed state-owned enterprises that intend to pay out 70 percent or more of their net profits as dividends this year. Some also plan to buy back their own shares.

China Mobile will disburse over 70 percent of its profit this year, up from 67 percent last year and 60 percent in 2021, the company said during a collective roadshow in Beijing yesterday. China Telecom plans to do the same, seeing its dividend rising from 65 percent of earnings in 2022.

China Shenhua Energy will pay a cash dividend this year and next year, according to Song Jinggang, the coal giant’s board secretary. Each year’s payment will equal at least 60 percent of the firm’s net profit in that year. Last year, it stood at 72.8 percent.

SOEs have been reporting earnings in recent weeks. China Tourism Group Duty Free reported CNY50.8 billion in revenue in the first three quarters, up 29 percent from a year earlier. Net profit at the company, which operates duty free shops, rose by 13 percent to CNY5.2 billion (USD710.7 million), it noted.

PetroChina, Asia’s largest oil and gas producer, posted CNY85.3 billion (USD11.7 billion) in net profit in the first half, a 5 percent annual gain, despite a slump in oil prices as the firm produced and sold a record amount, made great efforts to control costs and expenses, and paid less tax, said Pei Ying, deputy director of the board.

A growing number of SOEs have also unveiled plans to roll out share buyback programs. China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec, intends to repurchase more of its shares listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to Huang Wensheng, its board secretary. 

From Aug. 28 to Oct. 25, Sinopec spent CNY459 million (USD62.7 million) buying back its shares in Shanghai, making up 0.065 percent of its total equity, and HKD288 million (USD36.8 million) repurchasing shares in Hong Kong, accounting for 0.05 percent of its total.

Editor: Emmi Laine