|
A
3.6% year-on-year rise in profits last month followed a 0.7%
gain in May, while first-half earnings were up 3.5%,
accelerating from a 3.4% increase in the January-May period,
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed.
“Relatively rapid industrial production growth, coupled with a
significantly easing in factory-gate price declines since the
second quarter, have promoted a stable recovery of corporate
revenue,” NBS statistician Wei Ning said in a separate
statement.
“Meanwhile, we should also see that insufficient domestic
effective demand has constrained the continuous improvement of
corporate performance, and the severe and complex international
environment has increased the operating pressure of
enterprises."
The robust data contrasted with a slowing economy, which missed
forecasts in the second quarter as the consumer sector was
downbeat amid job market woes and a protracted housing downturn.
Roughly half of more than 10 mainland-listed alcoholic beverage
firms that had released forecasts for H1 earnings expected a
loss-making first half.
Yet in spite of rising trade tensions with the West, optical
transceiver firms Zhongji Innolight and Suzhou TFC Optical
Communication forecast multi-fold rises in first-half earnings,
as the two suppliers for U.S. chip giant Nvidia turn out to be
big winners from a global artificial intelligence build out.
China is trying to provide heavier monetary stimulus to prop up
its fragile economy, surprising markets for a second time on
Thursday by conducting an unscheduled lending operation at
steeply lower rates. Only days earlier the authorities cut
several benchmark lending rates in the wake of a top leadership
meeting, which had mapped out other major reforms.
The country's state planner and finance ministry announced plans
on Thursday to arrange about 300 billion yuan of funds from
ultra-long special treasury bonds to step up a nationwide
equipment upgrade and consumer goods trade-in campaign.
State-owned firms reported profits up 0.3% in the first half,
foreign firms recorded an 11% gain, while private-sector
companies booked a 6.8% rise, according to a breakdown of the
NBS data.
Industrial profit numbers cover firms with annual revenues of at
least 20 million yuan ($2.75 million) from their main
operations.
($1 = 7.2767 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and Kevin Yao; Editing by William
Mallard and Stephen Coates)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
