Listed companies’ profits up 2.46% in first 3 quarters, hitting $ 659 billion

China’s listed companies raked in 4.75 trillion yuan ($659 billion) of net profit in the first three quarters of this year, up 2.46 percent year-on-year, data from the China Association for Public Companies showed.

Total business revenue grew 8.51 percent over a year earlier to 52.37 trillion yuan, the association said, citing thirdquarter financial statements of 4,945 companies listed on the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing stock exchanges.

Non-financial listed companies posted higher revenue growth than financial firms during the period, the data showed. Firms listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange led the revenue growth, while those on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s sci-tech innovation board posted the highest net profit expansion.

In the third quarter alone, the revenue and net profit of the 4,945 companies rose 7.09 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively, the data showed.

The net profit of firms in industries including wholesale and retail, photovoltaic power, power batteries and new-energy vehicles recorded stellar performance in the third quarter, the data showed.

During the first nine months, another 300 companies were listed, of which 246 were listed through a registration-based IPO system to raise more than 360 billion yuan.