THE net profits of China’s listed companies grew slightly faster in the second quarter in line with the country’s improving economic performance, although the first half was weaker than the same time last year, a domestic newspaper said yesterday.

    Second-quarter profits grew 11.4 percent year on year from 8.08 percent in the first quarter, Shanghai Securities News reported.

    But year-on-year growth of 9.47 percent in the first half of this year lagged a rise of more than 11 percent in the first half of 2013, reflecting the longer-term slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

    China’s economic growth picked up slightly in the second quarter as a burst of government stimulus paid dividends, although analysts said the government would likely need to offer more support to meet its annual growth target of 7.5 percent as the property market hit hard times.

    China’s 2,558 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges posted combined net profits of 1.27 trillion yuan (US$207 billion) in the first half of this year, the newspaper said.

    Property was one of the worst-performing industries, with total net earnings falling 6 percent in the first half from a year earlier, it said.

    Construction material and telecommunications equipment industries staged the quickest growth, each seeing their combined net profits rose more than 40 percent in the first half from a year earlier. (SD-Agencies)