China’s listed firms see higher earnings in 2017

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Listed companies in China reported rapid profit growth in 2017 as the country's supply-side structural reform began to bear results.

So far, over half of the listed companies on the country's two major stock exchanges have reported their 2017 performance, and nearly 70 percent of them saw profit gains, according to Shanghai Securities News.

Most companies in traditional sectors such as coal and steel posted strong growth on the back of the country's economic restructuring and business environment improvement.

For instance, 19 out of 20 companies that have released 2017 reports in the coal sector saw profit growth as China continues to slash excess coal capacity and product price increases.

Shanxi Lu'an Environmental Energy Development said in its report that the company's net profit is expected to surge 210 to 245 percent year on year in 2017.

Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel forecast that the company's net profit jumped over 30 times in 2017 on the back of continued overcapacity cut efforts.

Meanwhile, sectors including cement, chemicals and paper-making all witnessed improved performance in 2017 thanks to the supply-side reform to upgrade the industries.

China's wide-ranging structural reform was designed to improve the supply side and build a healthy economic structure.

In the battle against overcapacity, a major task for reform efforts, China has accomplished its plans to slash steel production capacity by around 50 million tonnes and coal by at least 150 million tonnes last year.

The annual Central Economic Work Conference last month pledged that China will press ahead with supply-side structural reform in 2018 with more efforts to improve the country's economic health.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency