Firms' annual results reveal shifting economic landscape

China's economy is slowing, but looking deeper, the performance sheets of companies reveal a shifting economic landscape triggered by the country's accelerated restructuring.

As of Thursday, 105 listed companies have disclosed their preliminary annual results of 2015. Two-thirds of them reported net profit growth, while 18 companies saw profits more than double.

But the performances were split. Traditional sectors like non-ferrous metals saw business falter, while emerging industries such as electronics and securities reported robust growth.

In particular, 11 security companies experienced more than 100 percent net profit growth last year, showing abundant transactions in the capital market of the world's second largest economy.

Meanwhile, successful asset-restructuring manoeuvres helped some electronic companies gain large profits, according to a report by China Securities Journal on Friday.

Among the losers commonly seen in the traditional sectors, iron and steel producers suffered major losses. Baosteel Group, China's leading listed steel company, posted an 83-percent fall in annual net profit.

The various performances show the growth engine has steadily moved from traditional industries to emerging ones against the backdrop of China's restructuring push.

The profits of major industrial firms in 2015 fell year on year for the first time in over a decade, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Wednesday.

Although the overall situation is grim, the high-tech industry, equipment manufacturing enterprises and consumer goods producers posted profit gains of 8.9 percent, 4 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

China's policy makers are striving to steer the economy away from an export-driven and credit-fueled growth model to one based on stronger consumer spending, innovation and the service sector.

Consumption contributed 66.4 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, up 15.4 percentage points from 2014, NBS data showed, thanks to pro-consumption policies.

The service sector contributed 50.5 percent to the economy in 2015, up from 48.1 percent in 2014, official data showed. It is the first time the service sector has exceeded 50 percent, according to the NBS.

The rising ratios represent concrete progress in creating a more consumption and service driven economy in order to sustain growth.

"While expanding aggregate demand in an appropriate way, China will vigorously pursue structural reform, particularly supply-side structural reforms," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday in a phone call with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

The reform is expected to advance economic restructuring by reducing noneffective and low-end supply, and boost productivity by expanding medium-to-high-end supply.

After decades of economic reform, the growth model and consumption demand in China have changed fundamentally, from universal short supply to oversupply in some sectors, and from an emphasis of quantity to a preference for quality.

The country's GDP growth slowed to 6.9 percent in 2015, the lowest level in 25 years.