226 listed companies have disclosed their 2025 dividend plans, with a total proposed cash distribution exceeding 179 billion yuan.

Securities Daily reporter Chen Xiao Li Haoyue

As A-share listed companies’ 2025 annual reports enter a dense disclosure period, dividend proposals are also rolling out faster. According to Wind data, as of March 24 when the reporter submitted the story, 226 A-share listed companies have disclosed their 2025 cash dividend plans, with a total cash dividend to be paid of about 1796 billion yuan, further strengthening listed companies’ cash return capacity.

Overall, leading firms remain the “mainstay” of dividend payouts, and the amounts are clearly rising. As of now, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (hereinafter “CATL”), the leading player in lithium batteries, ranks first with a proposed cash dividend of 31.528 billion yuan, further increasing versus the previous year. The proposed dividend amounts of companies such as China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Foxconn Industrial Internet Co., Ltd., China CITIC Bank Co., Ltd., and Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Zijin Mining”) are also all above 10 billion yuan.

In terms of industry distribution, large-dividend companies are not confined to the financial sector; instead, they span multiple fields including energy, metals, advanced manufacturing, and biopharmaceuticals, showing a diversified trend in dividend payers.

Taking the energy sector as an example, Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Baofeng Energy”), a privately held energy leader, has boosted shareholder returns in step with high growth in its performance. In 2025, the company’s operating revenue reached 48.038 billion yuan, up 45.64% year over year; its net profit attributable to the parent after deducting non-recurring items was 11.519 billion yuan, breaking through 10 billion yuan for the first time. On that basis, Baofeng Energy plans to distribute a cash dividend of 3.055 billion yuan, and after adding the interim dividend, total dividends for the full year will be 5.091 billion yuan, accounting for 44.85% of full-year net profit.

For resource-based enterprises, benefiting from a rebound in cyclical conditions has also strengthened their dividend capacity. Zijin Mining Group’s 2025 annual report shows that, driven by rising prices and volumes of its main products such as gold and silver, the company’s full-year net profit first exceeded 500 billion yuan. According to its 2025 annual dividend distribution proposal, the company plans to pay a cash dividend of 3.8 yuan for every 10 shares (including tax). Together with the already implemented interim dividend of 5.85 billion yuan, the total cash dividend for the full year will reach 15.95 billion yuan, a new high since listing.

Meanwhile, dividend performance in the biopharmaceutical and technology sectors is also worth attention. For example, leading companies in certain sub-sectors have significantly increased dividend levels supported by high growth in earnings. WuXi AppTec Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “WuXi AppTec”) is expected to see year-over-year growth of 102.65% in net profit attributable to the parent, with dividend payments totaling 4.7 billion yuan; Shanhong Technology (Huizhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Shanhong Technology”) has net profit up 273% year over year, and it plans to distribute 1.74 billion yuan in dividends.

In terms of dividend frequency, more and more companies are beginning to explore multiple dividend payments within a single year, improving dividend stability and predictability. CATL, WuXi AppTec, Shanhong Technology, and other companies have all disclosed mid-year dividend arrangements for 2026. Taking CATL as an example, the company plans to implement a mid-year dividend in 2026, with the dividend amount capped at 15% of the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company for the current period, further strengthening its ability to provide ongoing returns.

Yang Huaiyu, a senior research fellow at Shanghai Summer Solstice Liangshi Consulting & Management Co., Ltd., said in an interview with Securities Daily reporters that this year the dividend scale of A-share listed companies has increased significantly, and corporate earnings recovery is the most fundamental supporting factor. From a macro perspective, in 2025, profits of industrial enterprises above a designated size grew year over year; listed companies’ overall profitability has continued to recover, providing a basis for the increase in dividend scale.

At the institutional level, Yang Huaiyu believes that relevant policies have played a clear guiding and regulatory role in listed companies’ dividend behavior.

“Over the past few years, regulators have continuously strengthened the cash dividend orientation, encouraging listed companies to establish more stable dividend mechanisms, and more and more companies are beginning to form long-term institutional arrangements. At the same time, by linking dividends with matters such as share reductions, regulators have objectively pushed listed companies to change their dividend philosophy,” Yang Huaiyu said.

Pan Lin, a member of the Information and Communications Economic Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told Securities Daily reporters that as the share of long- and medium-term funds increases, the value-investing philosophy is gradually being strengthened. Investors are more inclined to obtain returns through stable dividends, which also pressures listed companies to optimize their dividend strategies. “Not only do we need to raise the dividend level, we also need to enhance dividend stability and predictability—such as by using fixed-proportion dividend methods—to improve investors’ willingness to hold the investment long term, thereby stabilizing the company’s market value performance.”