China's listed firms embrace innovation-driven growth

BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Research and development (R&D) has increasingly become both the reason for and result of the growth noted among China's listed companies, as they doubled down efforts on high tech and new energy.

Listed firms on China's major bourses have unveiled financial reports for the first half of this year. On the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, high-tech companies are witnessing rising R&D expenditure, and rising performance.

With breakthroughs in core technologies, R&D spending by communications and power equipment companies increased by 25 percent and 17 percent, respectively, and their net profit increased by 9 percent and 13 percent.

"Listed companies are one of the most active and important components of the Chinese economy, and many are industry backbones," said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor with Renmin University of China.

Among enterprises with high R&D intensity is CRRC Corporation Limited, whose development of the CR450 bullet train has achieved initial results. During a test on June 28, the train operated at a speed of 453 km per hour.

The green energy sector has also seen steady development. The growth rate of operating income and net profit of photovoltaic equipment companies reached 24 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Photovoltaic power generation also increased significantly, with the power generated by China Three Gorges Renewables (Group) Co., Ltd., China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd. totaling 15.5 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent.

New energy industries have registered remarkable export performances, with photovoltaic equipment and automobile companies achieving a 40 percent and 33 percent growth, respectively, in export-related revenue.

In the STAR market, China's Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board, the operating revenue of companies achieved stable growth in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, sci-tech oriented firms continued to bolster their R&D and innovation efforts, showing development potential and resilience.

During the first half of this year, R&D investment of the STAR market companies hit 70.6 billion yuan (about 9.79 U.S. dollars), surging 19 percent from a year ago.

There were 102 companies with R&D investment intensity above 30 percent. The total number of new invention patents of the companies exceeded 7,600.

China has ramped up fiscal policies to support the development of businesses and bolster the real economy this year. More corporate spending in R&D has been made tax-deductible, Luo Tianshu, an official with the State Taxation Administration, told a press conference on Thursday.

Vice-Minister of Finance Wang Dongwei, also speaking at the press conference, said that technological innovation, the real economy, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises have received strong policy support.

In Shenzhen, high R&D investment of listed companies has supported innovation. For instance, China's electric vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) released a new lithium iron phosphate battery for fast-charging on Aug. 16, which is capable of powering automobiles for 400 km on a charge of only 10 minutes.

The country's leading automaker BYD said in its semi-annual report that technological innovation is the core driving force for high-quality business development. Relying on strong research and development, BYD will launch a series of world-leading, forward-looking and game-changing technologies while continuing to promote the application of existing technologies.

According to the Shenzhen bourse, seven companies including CATL, BYD and Midea Group have spent more than 5 billion yuan on R&D in the first six months, and 46 companies have spent more than 1 billion yuan.