China’s publicly traded companies took a net profit hit for the first time in five years in 2023, as a protracted property sector slump bled into other industries, reports Nikkei Asia. The roughly 5,200 non-finance companies listed in mainland China logged a combined net profit of RMB 2.85 trillion ($394 billion) last year, according to DZH data. This amounts to a RMB 100 billion decrease, or a 3% dip.
Meanwhile, net profit for the January-March quarter declined 5% on the year, indicating that earnings have been slow to recover amid a Chinese economy facing deflationary pressure. Last year, property companies logged a net loss of RMB 13.5 billion, the first year in the red in data going back to 2000.
Chinese consumers have been holding off on property purchases since the government introduced lending restrictions for the sector in 2020, leading to a string of bankruptcies among developers and delayed deliveries of apartments.