Leading firms on 'new third board' see higher revenue, profit in first three quarters

BEIJING - Leading firms on the "new third board" have seen rises in revenue and profit in the first three quarters, according to the China Securities Journal Wednesday.

A total of 673 listed companies on the innovation tier of the "new third board," or the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), had disclosed their third-quarter performances by the end of October, according to the newspaper.

Their total revenue rose 7.79 percent year-on-year to 304.7 billion yuan ($43.34 billion) in the first three quarters and their profits climbed 5.27 percent year-on-year to 16.97 billion yuan.

In terms of profit, 536 companies made a profit in the first three quarters, accounting for 79.64 percent of the firms on the tier. Among them, more than 200 companies had a net profit growth rate of more than 10 percent.

NEEQ-listed companies have been stratified to sift out the best performers on the innovation tier, based on a series of standards including profits and revenue, while the rest stay on the base tier.

China has outlined a series of reforms to better orient the NEEQ to the needs and features of small enterprises and support high-quality growth of the real economy, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission in October.

Launched in 2013, the "new third board" is the third national equity trading bourse after the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. It is designed for innovative, start-up and high-growth micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.

As of Wednesday, 9,163 companies had been listed on the NEEQ, including 675 on the innovation tier and 8,488 on the base tier. The data change on a daily basis.