SSE Website Adds A Special Section for Corporate Value and Return Enhancement to Display Participating Companies and Action Plans

Translated from Yicai

On March 22, 2024, Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) announced an initiative encouraging all SSE-listed companies to respond to the "Corporate Value and Return Enhancement" special action. This initiative aims to "further enhance the quality and investment value of listed companies", guiding SSE-listed companies to formulate and disclose their "Corporate Value and Return Enhancement" Action Plan 2024. These plans include specific measures across six key areas: improving operational quality, increasing investor return, accelerating the development of new quality productive forces, and more. Companies are encouraged to diligently implement these measures and conduct regular assessments for improvement. Furthermore, the SSE incorporated the formulation and execution of these action plans into the annual information disclosure assessments for SSE-listed companies in 2024.

Reports indicate that over 50% of companies listed on the SSE—more than a thousand—have engaged in this special initiative thus far. This includes over 80% of companies on the SSE STAR Market, around 80% of constituents within the SSE 180 and CSI 300 indexes (the SSE portion), as well as full participation from companies in the STAR 50 and STAR 100 indexes. Overall, participating companies have introduced a range of practical, actionable, and verifiable measures tailored to their specific situations. They have notably made progress in areas such as internal cost reduction, efficiency enhancement, increased R&D investment, improved communication with investors, and active share buybacks and dividend distributions, all resulting in positive outcomes.

To give full play to the market function of stimulating competition, learning, and support among listed companies and to make the special action more effective, the SSE's website and App has added a section titled "Corporate Value and Return Enhancement" on January 10.

This section features "Information Disclosure", "News Updates" and "Regulatory Documents". "Information Disclosure" pools announcements from participating SSE-listed companies related to their corporate value and return enhancement, with an embedded search function for investors and other market participants to look for information by type. "News Updates" summarizes the latest developments in the initiative. "Regulatory Documents" compiles essential policy documents and regulations to provide the market with timely insights.

Looking ahead, the SSE plans to introduce a series of initiatives to guide SSE-listed companies in their participation in this special action, aiming at ultimately driving significant quality improvements in business operation, information disclosure, governance practice and investor return.

The above information is provided for reference purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.