Forbes lists three Zhuhai firms among China's top 500

Nanping-based Ninestar Corp has made the list of Fortune's top 500 Chinese companies for the first time while Gree Electric Appliance in Qianshan and Huafa Holdings Group in Wanzai -- all in Xiangzhou District -- moved up in the rankings.

Fortune China and China International Capital Corp Ltd Wealth Management released the list on July 10. It evaluates the 2017 global performance and achievements of listed Chinese companies.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), PetroChina Co Ltd (PetroChina) and China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd remain at the top.

Ninestar Corp [Photo courtesy ninestargroup.com]

With its rise to 7th-place from 63th to 56th, Gree once again showed itself to be the world's largest air conditioner supplier in terms of income. Revenue and profit for the previous year were 150 billion yuan ($23.4 billion) and 22.4 billion yuan ($3.5 billion).

Huafa Holdings moved up 81 spots to rank 368th. The State-owned company provides diversified management around China, and earned 20 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) in revenue and 1.6 billion yuan ($250 million) in profit last year.

Ninestar, dedicated to printing and imaging products, is a new face, ranking 343th. The company had revenue of 21.3 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) with profit of 949 million yuan ($149 million). Its 2017 acquisition of Lexmark International, a renowned American laser printer manufacturer, is partially credited.

Listed are 56 companies from Guangdong Province.

The combined revenue of the top 500 Chinese companies was 39.65 trillion yuan ($6.2 trillion), an 18.22 percent increase over the previous year. Total net profit went up 24.24 percent to 3.48 trillion yuan ($545 billion).