According to the yearly reports already publicized by companies listed on the Chinese stock market, the China Securities Journal found that they are willing to pay more dividends to public shareholders.

So far, a total of 445 listing companies have publicized their yearly reports, 266 of which have proposed their profit distribution plans, the newspaper said on Friday.

Altogether 266 companies plan to pay dividends worth 24.816 billion yuan (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) to public shareholders, up 8.98 percent over 2004, according to the newspaper.

Eleven companies plan to give more than 5 yuan for every 10 shares and two companies will even offer 10 yuan for 10 shares, which is quite rare compared with previous years.

Out of the 445 companies, 72 companies promised to give cash dividends, 71 of which have kept their promise and most of which are actually giving a more generous return to their shareholders, it reported.

Source: Xinhua