(Yicai Global) Aug. 22 -- Huawei Technologies' parent company Huawei Investment & Holding has been ranked first for the fourth straight year in a list of China's top 500 private companies released today by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

The leading business association has published the list every year since 2010, ranking firms based on their revenue the previous year. Huawei Investment had total income of more than CNY700 billion (USD99 billion) in 2018.

Debt-laden HNA Group, which owns Hainan Airlines, came second on this year's list, with revenue of CNY618.3 billion, while Suning's CNY602.5 billion landed it the third spot. Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings were excluded because they are overseas-listed holding companies.

Companies needed to earn at least CNY18.6 billion in 2018 to make this year's rankings. That's CNY2.9 billion more than the year before. Some 12 companies exceeded the CNY300 billion mark, up from nine the previous year.

Among China's renowned tech firms, e-commerce titan JD.com ranked sixth with CNY462 billion in revenue, and Legend Holdings, the parent company of personal computer maker Lenovo, earned CNY358.9 billion to give it ninth place. Handset maker Xiaomi Technology came 24th, and search engine giant Baidu ranked 53rd.

The report also showed that profitability at China's private firms has steadily improved, with the combined net profit of the top 500 last year standing at CNY1.29 trillion (USD182 billion), up 13.9 percent. Profit at 21 of them topped CNY10 billion each. Property developer Evergrande Group led the earnings tables with CNY66.5 billion.

Editor: Dou Shicong