(Yicai Global) Feb. 1 -- Chinese companies in the aviation and real estate sectors headed a long list of loss-making companies for the year 2022 as outbreaks of Covid-19, geopolitical turmoil, a weaker Chinese yuan versus the US dollar and other factors hammered business.

Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, battered by the pandemic and higher fuel prices, racked up the biggest losses out of the 1,501 listed companies to say so far they are expecting a loss in the year ended Dec. 31, according to financial data provider Wind.

The three carriers expect losses to reach CNY39.5 billion (USD5.2 billion), CNY35 billion and CNY30 billion respectively. Private Hainan Airlines Holding is not far behind in fifth place with predicted losses of CNY22 billion

And real estate firms, which have been greatly affected by the slowdown in economic growth, are up there with them. In fourth place is Risesun Real Estate Development, which is bracing for losses of CNY25 billion, and Sichuan Languang Development and Jinke Property Group are ranked in sixth and seventh place, respectively, with estimated losses of CNY22 billion and CNY19 billion.

In fact, 1,501 listed firms out of the 2,492 companies to have released their performance expectations for 2022 so far expect to lose money, according to Wind. And only 984 forecast growth.

Winners

But it was not a bad year for everyone. Lithium producers and photovoltaic firms are expecting a very good year as demand soars and prices surge. Fifteen of the 19 companies on Wind’s lithium index have said they forecast profits to grow, and five of the 15 are anticipating net profit to more than sextuple from the year before.

Youngyi, for instance, is predicting a 32- to 38-fold leap in net profit to between CNY2.2 billion (USD326.4 million) and CNY2.6 billion while Tianqi Lithium anticipates an 11- to 12-fold jump to between CNY23.1 billion (USD3.4 billion) and CNY25.6 billion. And Canmax, Yongxing Special Materials Technology and Chengxin Lithium Group all expect profit to jump more than six-fold.

Silicon giant Tongwei estimates its net profit to more than triple to reach between CNY25.2 billion and CNY27.2 billion.

Soaring fuel prices also buoyed fossil fuel suppliers. Oil major PetroChina expects net profit for last year to jump between 57 percent and 68 percent to between CNY145 billion (USD21.5 billion) to CNY155 billion, while China National Offshore Oil Corp. anticipates profit to double by between 99 percent and 104 percent to to fall between CNY139.6 billion and CNY143.6 billion.

Coal miners, including Shanxi Coking Coal, Yankuang Energy Group, Pingdingshan Tian’an Coal Mining and Shaanxi Coal Industry have all released encouraging predictions about their 2022 performance.

Companies in the biomedicine, machinery and equipment, electronics, electrical devices as well as the basic chemical sectors also did well.

As of the end of last year, there were 5,079 companies listed on the mainland’s three bourses. Of these, 2,174 are on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, 2,743 on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and 162 on the Beijing Stock Exchange.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor