The 2008 net profit of 1,624 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges fell 17 percent from a year earlier to 820.82 billion yuan (120.18 billion U.S. dollars), the China Securities Journal Information Center reported Thursday.

Nearly 18.5 percent of the companies reported losses in 2008. The figure was 7 percent in 2007.

However, the 1,624 companies reported 203.76 billion yuan in net profit in the first quarter of 2009, or 4.5 times more than the fourth quarter of 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)