A total of 571 companies, or 62.5 percent, of the 913 listed firms that had released preliminary half-year results by Wednesday are expecting to see profit growth, according to statistics provided by Shanghai Securities News.

Of those 571, 110 claim they are expecting higher growth than previously expected, 131 companies expect to continue growing their profits, 282 expect smaller increases in profits, and 48 companies expect to reduce their losses.

On the other hand, 197 listed companies expect to register a loss, 50 expect to fall into the red for the first-time, 79 enterprises expect to continue to make losses, and 16 companies were still unsure about the likely outcome.

Although more than half of the listed companies were optimistic about their achievements in the first half year, analysts said the overall performances of the listed companies in the period were not as consistent as they had expected.

The slowdown of the economy in 2012 caused a slump in the performance of companies, causing some share prices to drop, said Hu Zhuowen, an analyst from Orient Securities.

"Company performances are expected to continue to be weaker for the rest of the year."

Hu added that the stock market is still correcting at the moment and it needs time to bounce back.

However, there were still companies that have stood out, with strong ongoing performances during 2012.

The Shanghai Securities News said that 45 companies registered more than 30 percent growth in sales revenues in 2012, the first quarter of this year, and expect that level to continue in the first half year.

Companies from the biological medicine, food and beverage, home electric appliance, electronics and other consumption goods sectors said they expected performances to improve.

Only four companies in the food and beverage sector predicted growth slower than expected, while 14 companies said they would achieve a rise in profits.

"The medicine, environmental protection, media, and electronics sectors performed extremely well in the first quarter, and will continue that growth, backed up by plenty of capital being invested," said Chen Li, the head of China equity strategy at UBS Securities Co Ltd.

Chen added that the consumption level of consumers remained high in the food and drinks, property, automobile, and home electric appliance sectors, which will help companies in the sectors see further growth in sales revenues and profits.

On the other hand, the nonferrous metals and mechanical manufacturing sectors were expected to be the two biggest losers in the market.

Of 33 nonferrous metal companies that had released half-year preliminary reports, only 13 expected to have positive profit growth, while 10 companies said they expect growth to fall, and the same number expect to make a loss.

As economic recovery has been slower than expected, and demand has kept declining as a result of rising costs, net profits of nonferrous metal companies have decreased, said Guan Junyu, an analyst from Caida Securities.

Overall, those companies expecting to make a loss are spread across 17 sectors, the statistics showed.

yuran@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/31/2013 page16)