Profits in China's listed companies jump

Total profits among companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen may have jumped almost two-thirds last year, the South China Morning Post reported. Quoting Chinese financial data, the newspaper said last year's profits for all companies listed in the two mainland exchanges likely topped US$51 billion (RMB400 billion), at least 62% higher than the US$32 billion (RMB246.8 billion) reported for 2005. This was partly driven by huge surges among some of the largest companies, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Life and Ping An. ICBC alone, which announced net profits of US$6.3 billion (RMB48.7 billion), accounted for 21% of all reported profits. Wang Sheng, an economist at Haitong Securities, said mainland listed companies could report even higher earnings this year.