For the first half of 2001, earnings per share EPS for domestically listed Chinese companies averaged Rmb0.1025, up 3.2% on-year, while average return on equity ROE was 4.1% compared to 5.0% a year ago, according to research from investment bank CLSA.
The improved quality of companies' earnings is likely to be overshadowed in the second half by losses on listed companies' stock market investments, comments Erwin Sanft, CLSA's head of China research, referring to the practice many companies have of investing profits in the stock market. Many experts believe that stock markets will weaken in the second half of this year in the wake of a government clampdown on...
