(Yicai Global) May 6 -- The profit earned by the 3,605 companies listed in China fell 2 percent last year from the year earlier because of asset impairment losses.

Total net profit was CNY3.38 trillion (USD501.1 billion), the Economic Information Daily reported today, while overall operating revenue jumped 12 percent to CNY45.4 trillion.

Companies that traded on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange saw their net income slump an average 23 percent to CNY583.5 billion on a 13.3 percent gain in revenue to CNY12 trillion. Profit at firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose 4 percent to CNY2.8 trillion, as revenue jumped 11 percent to CNY33.5 trillion, the report said.

Huge asset impairments were the main reason for the decline. Non-financial companies wrote down CNY587.6 billion of assets, an almost 60 percent increase from a year earlier, mainly due to equity pledges, debt defaults and goodwill impairments.

Some 452 listed firms fell into the red last year, compared with 225 in the year earlier, with 123 losing more than CNY1 billion each. Just 26 lost that much in 2017.

With the Chinese economy recovering this year, first-quarter profit rebounded. Listed firms reported a 9 percent gain in net profit to CNY1 trillion in the three-month period on an 11 percent increase in revenue to CNY11.4 trillion.