China Fortune 500 index revenues fall for first time

Revenues at China's Fortune 500 companies fell in 2016 for the first time in the history of the index, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Total revenues dropped 0.07 per cent year on year in 2016, the first drop in the fifteen year history of the index, compiled by the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association, Xinhua said.

The number of companies that posted losses increased to 72, up from 57 last year. Several loss-making companies were in heavy industries including 21 steel companies which posted total losses of 72.06 billion yuan ($10.81 billion) and 17 coal companies.

"The continued increase in the number of loss-making companies in China's Fortune 500 reflects the grim structural adjustments and challenges facing China's largest companies," Wang Zhongyu, president of the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association said, according to Xinhua.

Total revenues for China's Fortune 500 companies in 2016 amounted to 59.46 trillion yuan ($8.92 trillion), the equivalent of 87.87 per cent of China's 2015 GDP, Xinhua said.

China's State Grid topped the list for the first time with revenues of 2.07 trillion yuan, followed by PetroChina, Sinopec, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Ping An Insurance and China Mobile, Xinhua said.

Revenues at companies in the services industry made up 40.53 per cent of the index compared to manufacturing revenues which accounted for 39.17 per cent. It was the first time revenues from services companies were larger than revenues from manufacturing.

R&D investment grew 7.4 per cent with Baidu, Huawei, Alibaba, ZTE and China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp each making significant investments, Xinhua said.