China-listed firms' earnings growth to hit 3-year low in 2015

SINGAPORE: Earnings growth at China-listed companies is likely to be the slowest in three years in 2015, in line with an economy the government expects to expand at the weakest rate in a quarter of a century.

Reuters surveyed analyst estimates of full-year net profit at 704 Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed firms that recently booked 2014 earnings, and found average growth for 2015 of 7 percent. That compared with 7.7 percent in 2014 and a spike of 18 percent in 2013.