China’s Top 500 Firms See Revenues Climb Most in 10 Years, Industry Association Says(Yicai Global) Sept. 6 -- Revenues at China’s top 500 companies jumped by an average of 14.1 percent last year, the most in a decade, to a combined CNY102.5 trillion (USD14.8 trillion), while the number of property developers among them fell.
State-owned power utility State Grid topped the list for the second consecutive year with income of CNY3 trillion (USD431.5 billion), according to the data released by the China Enterprise Confederation today. Energy giants PetroChina and Sinopec Group, China State Construction Engineering and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ranked second to fifth, respectively.
At 15th place with revenue of CNY951.6 billion (USD136.9 billion), e-commerce behemoth JD.Com was the highest-ranked internet company, while it main rival Alibaba Group Holding came in 19th with CNY836.4 billion.
Telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies ranked 33rd, and social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings took the 39th spot.
The difficulties facing China’s real estate sector were reflected in the fact that only 48 developers were included in the top 500, down by eight from last year and continuing the decline seen the year before. The number of firms from the retail sector also declined, especially the dealers of auto and household appliances, while those from the metals, chemicals, mechanical equipment, and power battery sectors rose.
The top 500 companies had combined net profit of CNY4.5 trillion (USD647.3 billion) in 2021, a 9.6 percent gain from the previous year.
The top three by net profit were all state-owned banks: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China with CNY348.3 billion (USD50.1 billion); China Construction Bank with CNY302.5 billion; and Agricultural Bank of China with CNY241.2 billion. At CNY224.8 billion, Tencent’s earnings ranked it fourth.
The top 500 companies spent a total of CNY1.5 trillion on research and development in 2021, up 10.8 percent from the prior year and accounting for 52 percent of China’s total R&D investment, the data showed.
Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting
