(Yicai Global) May 27 -- The Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Small and Medium Enterprise celebrated its 15th birthday today and the total value of stocks from its 932 companies has reached CNY8.6 trillion (USD1.3 trillion), making up 16.4 percent of the country's stocks' value.

The board has approved 932 initial public offerings totaling CNY610.9 billion (USD88.7 billion) over the 15 years since May 27, 2004. It has supported refinancing worth CNY1.6 trillion in the period and 58 listed firms have refinanced over four times through the board, the SSE said in a statement.

SME Board listees have distributed accumulated cash dividends of CNY442.8 over the fifteen years, making up 30 percent of the total accumulated net profit. They shared dividends of CNY93.7 billion last year. Electronic security developer Hikvision Digital Technology ranked first with a dividend of CNY5.6 billion and has paid dividends yearly for a decade.

SMEs have continued to boost research and development over the past five years. The compound growth rate of total R&D expenditure reached 25.3 percent. The total R&D expenditure last year was CNY146.3 billion, up 24.8 percent yearly, making up 3.17 percent of the operating income over the same period. 

The information technology R&D expenditure accounted for 9.8 percent of operating income, topping all other industries. The new energy vehicle maker BYD, Hikvision and appliance retailer Suning.Com were among the top listees in terms of R&D.