PetroChina Co topped the "China Listed 100 in 2008" rankings with a profit of 161.1 billion yuan ($23.6 billion), while the total profit of the country's top 100 domestically listed companies fell 12.4 percent year-on-year, China Business News reported Wednesday.

The annual rankings of China's top 100 listed companies were co-compiled by the Warton Economic Institute, Shanghai Economy magazine and China Enterprise Reform and Development Society.

Shen Hanyao, director of the Shanghai-based Warton Economic Institute, said last year the Chinese economy witnessed the biggest decline in the past three decade, owing to a heavy blow dealt by the global financial turmoil.

China's top 100 listed companies reported a total profit of 97.74 billion yuan last year, down 13.89 billion yuan from the previous year; the profit of the company sitting at the bottom of the list was 1.12 billion yuan, down 243 million yuan from 2007. Both were the first declines in the rankings' nine-year history, Shen said.

But the top 100 listed companies remained the mainstay among all listed companies, Shen said. While the total profits of China's listed companies fell 19.2 percent year-on-year in 2008, the top 100 companies generated 977.4 billion yuan in profits, down only 12.4 percent from the previous year.

Also, eight companies on the list emerged from in the credit crunch to become last year's fastest-growing star companies, with profit more than doubling that of 2007.

Goldwind Science and Technology Co ranked No 97, marking the first time that a new energy company ever made into the list. Previously, the list was dominated by companies in such fields as petrochemical, iron and steel, banking and coal mining.

It shows the industrial structure adjusting and upgrading has reached a new level, according to Shen.

(China Daily July 9, 2009)