(Yicai Global) July 2 -- Almost half of the 39 Chinese companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Nasdaq-style Star Market that have released their first-half earnings forecasts to date expect profit to at least double from the same period last year, indicating that they are either making money from the efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic or are in industries that have bounced back well.

Eighteen companies said profit should more than double in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, according to Yicai Global research. Nine said net profit should increase by at least 50 percent, another nine forecast growth under 50 percent and only three anticipate a decline, according to Yicai Global research.

Beijing Hotgen Biotech, which makes Covid-19 test reagents, is top of the list, expecting its profit over the period to vault as much as 864-times year on year to between CNY1.4 billion (USD216.3 million) and CNY1.6 billion.

Another Covid-19 test reagent maker, Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech, expects profit to jump almost six times what it was a year earlier to between CNY3 billion (USD463 million) and CNY3.5 billion.

Companies in other sectors that have rebounded strongly in the wake of the pandemic have also done well. Semiconductor manufacturer Shenzhen Sunmoon Microelectronics is predicting first-half profit to surge up to 13 times from the same period last year to between CNY260 million (USD40.2 million) and CNY290 million due to strong demand and the low base last year.

Another chipmaker Kingsemi is forecasting profit of between CNY24 million and CNY33 million for the period, compared with losses of CNY14.4 million in the same period last year, due to a big leap in orders.

Some 74 companies released their expectations for the first half during the second quarter. Of these, 37 anticipated a rise in profit, three expected to turn losses into profit, three forecast a drop in profit, 22 expected a deficit and seven were not sure.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor