Sinopec Group leads Chinese firms in the Fortune Global 500 list. (Photo : Reuters)
From last year's 100, China has brought in a total of 106 companies to the 2015 edition of Fortune Global 500 list, according to yearly ranking published on Wednesday.
While the U.S. retail giant Walmart topped the list, China's top oil refiner Sinopec Group snatched the second position, a notch higher than its 2014 rank.
Safeguarding the fourth spot for another year is PetroChina, the largest oil and gas producer in the country. Another firm that retained its position is the largest electric utilities firm, State Grid Corporation, which ranked seventh overall.
China's tally of 106 came behind the U.S.'s 128 companies, the annually released list showed.
In 2014, the world's top 500 companies pulled in a total of $31.2 trillion worth of revenues and $1.7 trillion worth of profits.
According to Fortune Magazine, private firms usually perform better in terms of profitability. However, in China, its own top 500 companies are majorly state-owned enterprises.
China's best companies were able to gather 28.9 trillion yuan worth of revenues in 2014, a 10.4-percent increase. The figure is also equivalent to half of China's GDP. Meanwhile, the total profits tallied to 2.5 trillion yuan.
For the local edition, China Petrochemical Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp. continued to keep their first and second spots. The firms generated 2.88 trillion yuan and 2.26 trillion yuan in sales, respectively, in 2013.
In the Fortune Global 500 list, firms are ranked by total revenues covered by their respective fiscal years, which must have ended on or before March 31 of this year. The companies included in the list must disclose financial and report the figures, or part of it, to a government agency.
The financial statements were thoroughly reviewed and verified.
