Chinese A-share listed companies’ performance in the first half of this year showed a 2.4% year-on-year decrease in net profit attributable to the mother company, with a decrease of 51.16% in net profit compared to the same period. This indicates that listed companies have failed to sustain the weak recovery trend seen since the second half of 2023.
According to Caixin website’s news on August 3, as of August 31, 2024, among the 5344 listed companies that have disclosed their semi-annual reports, the total operating income in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2023 dropped by 1.4%. Net profit attributable to the mother company was about 2.9 trillion yuan, a 2.4% decrease year-on-year. Among them, 4165 companies were profitable, 1175 were in the red, with profit-making companies accounting for 78.01%. However, the proportion of companies experiencing a year-on-year decline in net profit exceeded 50%, reaching 51.16%, putting the companies in a situation of increasing revenue without profitability growth.
In the first half of 2024, the net profit growth rates of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Science and Technology Innovation Board, Growth Enterprise Board, and North Exchange Board were -0.92%, -11.59%, -25.02%, -3.86%, and -19.41% respectively compared to the same period last year.
Among them, 31 companies experienced net losses exceeding 1 billion yuan, including Vanke A (loss of 9.852 billion yuan), Longi Green Energy (loss of 5.243 billion yuan), and Tianqi Lithium (loss of 5.206 billion yuan). Four of the top 10 companies in net losses are real estate enterprises and three are semiconductor industry companies.
In the 19 loss-making sectors, residential development ranked first with losses exceeding 12 billion yuan; photovoltaic components and aviation transportation sectors saw losses exceeding 5 billion yuan. Sectors with losses exceeding 1 billion yuan also include coking, plate materials, landscaping engineering, industrial real estate, and horizontal general software.
An analyst commented on this, stating, “Pressure on A-share listed companies’ profits stems from the drag of cyclical and growth sectors such as real estate and semiconductors, affecting different levels of the industrial chain. Moreover, domestic demand still hasn’t shown a recovery beyond expectations, keeping listed companies’ revenue under pressure and overall confidence in various economic entities remaining low.”