(Yicai Global) Sept. 28 -- The Industrial Bank of China was the most profitable company in China last year with CNY312.2 billion (USD45.8 billion) in net profit, a survey has found.

Alibaba Group Holding ranked fifth behind state-backed Construction Bank of China, Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China with CNY149.4 billion in net profit, according to the China Top 500 list the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association jointly released today. Tencent Holdings came in seventh with net profit of CNY93.3 billion.

Huawei Technologies, Alibaba and China National Petroleum Corporation spent the most on research and development at CNY131.7 billion, CNY43 billion and 28.7 billion, respectively.

Editor: Ben Armour