Top companies should adapt to slower growth: experts

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Top companies should adapt to slower growth: experts

(Xinhua) 09:03, September 01, 2013

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Experts believe large Chinese enterprises must adapt to slower economic growth after new data revealed that the country's top 500 companies saw shrinking revenue growth last year.

The 2013 edition of the Top 500 Chinese Enterprises list was unveiled at a press conference on Saturday, with China's oil giant Sinopec Group topping the list for a ninth year.

The list was compiled by the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Enterprise Directors Association based on the 2012 revenues of Chinese companies.

Sinopec Group took the lead for a ninth year with total revenues of 2.83 trillion yuan (458.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012, according to a press release.

China National Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of China's top oil and gas producer, PetroChina, followed closely in second place with revenues reaching 2.68 trillion yuan last year.

The two were joined by eight other state-owned companies to dominate the top 10: State Grid, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Mobile, China State Construction and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

A total of 123 companies, including 16 private enterprises, reported revenues of more than 100 billion yuan last year, up from 107 companies a year earlier.

The top 500 companies had a combined revenue of 50.02 trillion yuan in 2012, up 11.41 percent from a year earlier.

However, the growth rate was 12.22 percentage points lower than that of the previous year amid a faltering world economic recovery, the release said.

Total profits of the 500 companies edged up 3.58 percent from the previous year to 2.17 trillion yuan last year, while the profit-revenue ratio dropped for the second year by 0.33 percentage points to 4.34 percent.

Among the 500 companies, 216 saw declines in net profits in 2012, while 43 others suffered losses, up from 13 companies in the previous year,according to the press release.

Li Jin, chief researcher at the China Enterprise Research Institute, said large Chinese companies must adapt to a transition period in which China's economy gears down to moderate growth after the surging growth of the past three decades.

China's potential growth rate for the medium and long term will drop gradually, and the economy will slow from rapid annual growth of around 10 percent to an annual average of 7 percent, Li said.

China's economic growth slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter from 7.7 percent in the first quarter. The country has set its annual economic growth target at 7.5 percent for 2013.

Li predicted that China's top 500 companies will see further decline in their revenue growth rates due to slow global economic growth and the drop in China's potential growth rate.

"In the face of slowing growth of market demand, many companies have not yet mastered how to make profits by pursuing technological progress and raising productivity," said Miao Rong, deputy head of the research department under the China Enterprise Confederation.

The majority of Chinese companies have grown used to making profits from the input of production factors and the rapid expansion of market capacity during a period of dramatic economic growth, Miao said.

Shrinking economic growth will force large Chinese companies to consider strategic transformations, shifting from an emphasis on growth pace to growth quality and from an input-driven growth pattern to an innovation-driven one, according to Miao.

Miao suggested that companies reevaluate their growth patterns and positions in the industrial chain based on the reality of slower economic growth, and reshape their strategies in a timely manner.