Under a series of reform policies aimed at enhancing the "intrinsic stability of the capital market," the "mid-term exam" report card for China's listed companies this year has been revealed. Based on the more than 5,000 interim reports disclosed, China's listed companies have now smoothly entered the preparation period for a high-quality development leap towards "new" growth and "refined" quality improvement.

Behind the positive effects shown in the report card is the concerted effort of business entities and institutional supply. From the data on the "books," more than 5,000 listed companies are accelerating towards "new" growth. Among the more than 3,000 listed companies with positive revenue growth, strategic emerging industries such as semiconductors, new energy, and high-end manufacturing have shown规模化 and intensive effects, significantly enhancing the industry's driving effect on performance. In addition, listed companies are continuously promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure by increasing technological innovation. In the first half of the year, the total R&D investment of listed companies was 0.75 trillion yuan, with an overall R&D intensity of 2.15%, and nearly a thousand listed companies had an R&D intensity of more than 10%.

From the perspective of internal governance efficiency, the overall governance capabilities of listed companies are striving for "refined" quality improvement. With the in-depth implementation of new regulations for independent directors and the official implementation of the new Company Law, listed companies continue to improve the arrangement of responsibilities and rights of directors, supervisors, and senior executives. The enthusiasm of independent directors to participate in major decisions and business management activities of listed companies has also significantly increased. The organizational form is more diversified, and the independence and professionalism have significantly improved. The supervisory effect of independent directors is more fully played, and significant rectification has been made to issues such as non-standard operation of the "three meetings," with significant results. The corporate governance mechanism is more sound, and the internal control system is becoming more perfect.

Advertisement

From the perspective of the capital supply system ecology, with the implementation of several new policies for strict continuous supervision of listed companies, the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of information disclosure by listed companies have been improved, and the number of listed companies voluntarily conducting ESG information disclosure has significantly increased. At the same time, with the regulatory authorities increasing the enforcement of delisting, the crisis awareness of listed companies is stronger, and they pay more attention to combining short-term stock price boosting with long-term improvement of the company's operational capabilities. They actively engage in valuable corporate strategic value management and pay more attention to investor returns. As of August 31, 677 listed companies announced cash dividend plans for the first quarter and half-year, with a total cash dividend of 531.2 billion yuan, and many companies conducted multiple dividends in a year.

Next, a long-term mechanism to enhance the intrinsic stability of the capital market should be established. China's listed companies should adhere to problem orientation, take the core issues and contradictions in the corporate governance system as the breakthrough, and promote the high-quality development of listed companies. The current core issues and contradictions are mainly concentrated in: internally, the overall operational efficiency of listed companies is not high, financing is easily affected by market fluctuations and short-term performance pressure, the overall innovation capability is limited, and the cultivation of innovative businesses is insufficient. The internal governance mechanism, compliance system, and incentive mechanism of the company need to be improved. Externally, the legal and regulatory environment and investor protection mechanism urgently need to be improved. The three pillars of governance supervision, which are fair access mechanisms before the event, comprehensive information disclosure systems during the event, and strict delisting systems after the event, need to be accelerated.

Based on this, in the future, further efforts should be made to enhance the subjective initiative of listed companies and the security of institutional supply, enhance the joint efforts of all parties, further consolidate the micro foundation of high-quality economic development, and improve the sustainable development capabilities and corporate governance level of listed companies. Guide listed companies to continuously improve the "three meetings" system construction, strengthen the management and standardization of "three meetings" operations, improve the communication mechanism between independent directors and listed company executives and core management personnel, and enhance the organizational role of independent directors. Improve the compliance system, strictly supervise and inspect the company's compliance with laws and regulations, important decisions, economic behaviors, and financial information disclosure, and prevent and discover violations in a timely and effective manner.

It is necessary to strengthen the construction of the "positive incentive" mechanism for listed company governance. Within a certain limit, increase the upper limit of equity incentives for listed companies and encourage enterprises to increase investment in scientific and technological innovation. Simplify the capital operation processes such as mergers and acquisitions, promote high-quality enterprises to layout a modern industrial system through increased investment, mergers and acquisitions, and equity cooperation, and promote industrial upgrading. Actively build a sustainable development information disclosure rule system with Chinese characteristics, expand the breadth and depth of sustainable development information disclosure in stages and steps, establish a sustainable development concept, grow ESG investment entities, and achieve a virtuous cycle between sustainable disclosure and sustainable investment.

In addition, it is also necessary to accelerate the construction of a market ecology with greater intrinsic stability. On the basis of improving listing standards, listing procedures, and continuously improving the market, financial intermediaries, and the regulatory mechanism of multiple departments such as regulatory authorities and judicial authorities, further improve the investor rights protection and compensation mechanism, strengthen investor education, guide the market towards long-term value investment, and accelerate the cultivation of "patient capital." In the process of providing high returns for investors and high-quality financing support for listed companies, create a social ecological atmosphere of sustainable governance of listed companies that helps the market's resilience.