BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The net profit of publicly traded Chinese companies soared 49.7 percent on average in 2007, boosted by the booming economy and high stock investment returns.

    All the listed firms but two had released their financial results for 2007 by Wednesday.

    Net profit of the 1,574 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges totaled 949.7 billion yuan (136 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

    Earnings per share rose 39.7 percent to a record high of 0.42 yuan.

    Their revenue climbed 25 percent to 9.45 trillion yuan, accounting for 38.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

    Of the total, 115 firms reported losses last year, the newspaper said.

    China's GDP expanded 11.9 percent last year, the fifth year of double digit growth. Meanwhile, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index nearly doubled.

    Analysts said domestic firms would see slower earnings growth this year, as the economy slowed with weak overseas demand for Chinese goods and tightening monetary policies.

    The country's economic growth slowed to 10.6 percent in the first quarter from 11.7 percent in the same period last year, because of slower export growth and the worst winter in more than five decades, mainly in southern China.

    Li Feng, a Galaxy Securities analyst, estimated the first quarter corporate profits of listed firms would be no lower than 30 percent in spite of the negative factors.