Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 10th. Title: From the perspective of the "new content" of listed companies' first quarter reports, China's economic development is becoming "new"

Liang Yinyan, Zhang Xue, and Wang Zilin

The first quarter reports of listed companies in 2025 have been released one after another. The total net profit attributable to shareholders of 5,400 companies that disclosed their first quarter reports totaled 1.49 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.64%. Among them, more than 70% of listed companies achieved profitability in the first quarter.

Technological innovation, "renewal" consumption, "new" foreign trade... The "new" meaning of the first quarter report is highlighted, conveying the pulse of high-quality development of listed companies and showing more positive signals for China's economy to move forward.

China Communications Construction has developed the "Tianshan" and "Victory" hard rock excavators for the construction of Tianshan Shengli Tunnel; Haiguang Information breaks through the power consumption bottleneck of heterogeneous computing chips, and the deployment of the new generation of DCU products in the intelligent computing center doubled; Lianying Medical added 7 new international certifications in the first quarter, and dynamic multipole magnet technology increased the MRI imaging speed by 50%, and some equipment has achieved parallel or leading the way with multinational giants...

Empowering technological innovation, enterprise development has shown "acceleration". Behind this is the continued high R&D investment of listed companies. In the first quarter of this year, nearly 50% of enterprises' R&D investment increased year-on-year. "Add to focus on R&D" and "increase R&D investment" are medium and high-frequency words for financial reports of listed companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

Technical breakthroughs are not only an accelerator of enterprise growth, but also a new engine for industrial upgrading. In the past 10 years, the proportion of emerging industries represented by electronics, communications, pharmaceuticals and biology, and automobiles on the Shanghai Stock Exchange main board has continued to rise to 40%. The leading industry in the main board market value has gradually shifted from traditional industries such as finance and energy to diversified emerging industries.

In the view of Zheng Hongda, chief analyst of the technology industry of Western Securities, the current external environment is complex and changeable, and China's technology industry has strong endogenous development momentum. Investment in the new stage should take core areas such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence as anchor points, and activate the endogenous momentum of the industrial chain through the technology multiplier effect.

"Continuously promote intelligent manufacturing projects", "digital operation measures to optimize the full-link efficiency of channels", "fine operation and supply chain optimization", "full development of independent brand matrix"... In the first quarter reports released by many listed companies, technology empowerment, independent brand innovation, etc. have become the keywords.

In Haier Smart Home's recycling and interconnection factory, waste refrigerators have undergone multiple processes and are "reborn" and are decomposed into iron, copper, aluminum, plastic, etc., waiting for the next recycling; in the packaging workshop of Zhongpin Co., Ltd., the automation equipment is accurately packed at a speed of 60 bags per minute, and the intelligent three-dimensional warehouse is running continuously for 24 hours. The food of the "hairy child" is transported to the world from this starting point...

Consumption is "renewed", and supply and demand continue to release potential. In the first quarter of this year, the revenue growth rate of A-share listed companies' consumer sector and net profit attributable to shareholders were 4.7% and 14.7% respectively, both significantly higher than the revenue and profit growth rate of all non-financial listed companies. Driven by the old-for-new policy, the performance of the home appliance industry and other companies benefited from the performance of the home appliance and consumer electronics sectors. In the first quarter, the net profit attributable to shareholders of the home appliance and consumer electronics sectors increased by 22.8% and 107.5% respectively.

New consumption is constantly cultivating and growing, injecting key increments into economic development. According to statistics from Founder Securities, special consumption such as holiday economy, ice and snow economy, and millet economy continues to heat up. In the first quarter of this year, the profits of listed companies in the ice and snow tourism sector increased by 25.8%, the profit growth rate of pet economy-related sectors reached 58.2%, and the net profits of listed companies related to milli economy-related increased by 93.6%.

Entertainment and tourism consumption is highly favored, driving the performance growth of related listed companies. In the first quarter of this year, many industries such as tourism, civil aviation, hotels and catering, film and television ushered in growth. Taking the film industry as an example, as of April 30, 16 film and television program production companies released their first quarter reports, of which 6 achieved doubled their net profit attributable to shareholders year-on-year.

Yan Xiang, chief economist of Founder Securities, said that from the perspective of total volume, the revenue increase of consumer listed companies reflects the huge potential of my country's consumer market. As the scale of consumption continues to steadily expand, the driving effect of consumption on the economy will become more and more obvious.

At the Canton Fair Gree Electric Booth, innovative products equipped with industry-leading compressor technology, "wind does not blow people" technology, and AI dynamic energy-saving technology are widely favored by overseas buyers; in Ziyang, Sichuan, a number of SDD1 internal combustion locomotives independently developed by Ziyang Company, a subsidiary of China CRRC, were loaded and launched in Africa...

New products have given birth to new achievements. In the first quarter of this year, the overseas market performance of related companies such as construction machinery, oil garment equipment, and industrial automation continued to achieve good growth, and the market penetration rate gradually increased.

In Yiwu, Zhejiang, "purchased tourism" has become a fashion, and the bosses "pass the broadcast and sell goods" and are busy receiving orders. In Yangzhou, Jiangsu, Yangjie Technology's integrated circuit packaging and testing workshop "no one is going around". Every overseas order automatically enters the system, and the production line responds immediately...

In the first quarter of this year, the operating income and net profit of Yiwu China Small Commodity City's listed company platform, Small Commodity City, both achieved double-digit year-on-year growth; Yangjie Technology has laid out a smart factory, and its overseas revenue has increased by 40% compared with the same period last year.

"Driven by technological innovation", "refine globalization strategy", "promoting product diversification strategy"... Faced with the complex and changeable external environment, many listed companies stated in their first quarter reports that they will accelerate the layout of new technologies and new products and further participate in global market competition.

Zhao Fujun, a researcher at the Foreign Economic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, believes that to accelerate the creation of new advantages in foreign trade competition, enterprises must develop their internal strength, increase innovation efforts, constantly adapt to market demand and update and iterate technology and products, and win the market initiative with innovation.