Annuals published by the 38 companies listed on China's SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange established one year ago have all reported good achievements except the other one whose annuals will not be published until Wednesday.

Among the all 39 listed enterprises, 37 saw their business income in 2004 growing at an average rate of 26 percent with 15 of them boasting a growth rate of over thirty percent.

Great profits have begun to be produced from funds collected after going public. Professionals predict that with more profits being produced, a higher growth of the SME board is expected in 2005.

However, soaring prices of raw materials such as oil, coal and electricity power and strained transportation have had some impact on the profits of these enterprises, said Zhang Yage with the Securities Department of the Xinhecheng Company, a listed company of the SME board.

Over half of the SMEs listed on the board saw their profits damaged by the soaring prices of raw materials. As for the net profits, despite the high business income growth of 26 percent, all 39 enterprises only have a growth rate of 12 percent in 2005. And only nine of the 39 have their net profits growing more rapidly than their business income growth.

Resulting from the good market achievements, the 38 enterprises having their annuals published announced a dividends sum of 814 million yuan (US$98.3 million), covering 8.8 percent of all funds they have collected through being listed, which is 9.274 billion yuan (US$1.12 billion).

Such good returns have promoted a soaring trend in the SME board.

Professionals said the future development of the SME board may be polarized, as some enterprises in a mature industry may have a comparatively limited growth margin while others, in an industry of wide development space, may continue their strong growth trend.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2005)