The highest profit in the first half of the year reached an impressive 173.744 billion yuan, with the four major state-owned companies dominating the market. Additionally, two new energy giants managed to achieve profits of over 10 billion yuan, indicating the resilience and recovery of this particular industry.
In the first half of 2023, China’s economy has experienced restorative growth. This positive trend has been largely driven by the high prosperity of various industries, leading to record-breaking revenue and net profit for many listed companies. This outstanding performance has made the A-share market a beautiful landscape to behold.
According to the Securities Times·Databao, as of now, 5,265 listed companies have disclosed their semi-annual reports, with the exception of Jingwei Textile Machinery. These companies collectively generated a total operating income of 35.44 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.57%. However, the net profit attributable to the parent company decreased by 4.32% to 2.95 trillion yuan. Despite this decline, the revenue of A-share listed companies in the first half of the year reached an all-time high.
The Chinese government’s prudent monetary policy, along with reasonable and sufficient liquidity, has contributed to the strengthening of the financial support for the economy. This has resulted in a significant improvement in the cash flow of listed companies. Databao statistics reveal that the net cash flow from operating activities of A-share companies reached 7.8 trillion yuan by the end of the first half of the year. This represents a year-on-year increase of 18.25% and a record high for the same period. Additionally, the balance of monetary funds rose to 18.11 trillion yuan, a growth rate of 6.04% compared to the previous year.
The large consumer sector, which saw double-digit growth in both revenue and net profit, emerged as the most remarkable industry during the first half of the year. As overall consumption showed signs of recovery, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 22,758.8 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% compared to the same period last year. The release of the “Measures on Resuming and Expanding Consumption” further boosted confidence in the consumer sector.
In terms of revenue growth, 22 industries experienced positive growth, with the highest growth rates observed in social services, electric equipment, automobiles, and national defense and military industries, all exceeding 10%. However, several resource industries, such as basic chemical, steel, coal, electronics, and light manufacturing, faced declining revenue of more than 5% in the first half of the year. Notably, the social service industry made a swift recovery, driven by increased tourism and travel-related activities. According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the total number of domestic tourists rose to 2.384 billion, reflecting a 63.9% increase compared to the same period last year.
The media industry experienced a remarkable turnaround in the second quarter, transitioning from negative to positive year-on-year revenue growth. This was largely due to the recovery of the movie box office in the first half of the year, which saw a 52.91% increase to reach 26.271 billion yuan. Industries with consumption attributes recorded significant net profit growth, particularly the social service industry, which turned losses into profits. Other industries that demonstrated strong net profit growth included public utilities, automobile, and beauty care, all exceeding 20%. Conversely, some manufacturing sectors experienced significant declines in net profit, with comprehensive, steel, basic chemical, electronics, and building materials all dropping by over 40% year-on-year.
Central enterprises, representing state-owned companies, claimed the top three spots in terms of revenue. Among the 53 companies with total operating income exceeding 100 billion yuan, state-owned enterprises dominated the rankings.