Top 500 companies in China 2013

 

The combined revenue of the top 500 Chinese enterprises grew slower in 2012 from the previous year amid sluggish world economy, a report released over the weekend showed.

The top 500 companies reported combined revenue of 50.02 trillion yuan ($8.17 trillion) in 2012, accounting for 96.32 percent of China's GDP in 2012, a report released by the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) Saturday showed.

However, the growth rate of the combined revenue slowed to 11.41 percent year-on-year compared with the 23.6 percent growth seen in 2011, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the combined profit of the top 500 companies grew only 3.58 percent from a year earlier to 2.17 trillion yuan in 2012, it showed.

Of the 500 companies, 216 reported decline in net profits in 2012, while another 43 companies suffered losses, 30 more than the previous year. 

Profit-revenue ratio of the 500 companies was 4.34 percent in 2012, down 0.33 percentage points from the previous year, the report showed.

"The slowdown in revenue growth and the increase in the number of companies suffering losses were in line with the macroeconomic situation in recent two years, with China's economic growth moderating from the rapid growth of the past," Wang Jicheng, a research fellow at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times Sunday, noting that companies should be prepared for difficulties over a protracted period of time.

"But they should also tap the growth potential which is still profound, such as the opportunities arising from the infrastructure construction in the western regions, the financial reforms to be unveiled in near future and investments in the overseas markets," Wang said.

The CEC's Saturday report showed that China's State-owned oil companies, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec Group, topped the 500 Chinese Enterprises list with a total revenue of 2.83 trillion yuan in 2012. It was the ninth consecutive year when Sinopec led the list.

Sinopec was followed by China National Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of PetroChina, with revenue reaching 2.68 trillion yuan in 2012 and State Grid Corp of China with 1.88 trillion yuan, the report said.

State-owned and State-controlled companies dominated the top 500 list, with all of the top 10 being State-owned or State-controlled companies.

"State-owned or State-controlled companies dominate the State resources. So it's no surprise that they have large revenues. But large revenue does not mean they are strong,"  Ji Zhu, director of Beijing Academy of Smart Economy, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Their capital efficiency, operating efficiency and management efficiency are usually low compared with smaller firms," Ji said.