China's top 500 companies are rapidly catching up with their global rivals in terms of revenues and profits, according to a report released by the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) and China Enterprise Directors Association (CEDA) in Hefei on Sept. 4, 2010.

54 Chinese companies made themselves onto the 2010 global top 500 list as compiled by Fortune magazine. "Of these companies, 43 are from the Chinese mainland, nine more than last year," said CEC President Wang Zhongyu, adding that the mainland Chinese companies on the list outnumbered French, German and British ones and took third place following the U.S. and Japan.

China's top performers earned 4.05 trillion U.S. dollars in revenue last year, accounting for 17.5 percent of the total revenue generated by the global top 500. The companies also reported net profits of 220.2 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to 22.9 percent of the global top 500 combined profit.

In addition, the net profits of China's top 500 grew by 29 percent last year, faster than the 16.8 percent for the global top 500.

The average profit margin of China's top 500 companies was 5.44 percent in 2009, higher than the average of 4.16 percent for the global top 500, while the return on net assets of China's Top 500 increased by 0.52 percent to 9.4 percent, as compared with 8.16 percent for their global competitors. This marks the second consecutive year that Chinese companies surpassed their foreign counterparts for these two indicators.

Miao Rong, a researcher with the CEC, said a comparison between the top Chinese and global businesses in 30 industrial sectors indicates one-third of Chinese companies have caught up with or even surpassed their worldwide counterparts in terms of business performance.

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