State-owned commercial bank Industrial & Commercial Bank of China retains its position as the country's most profitable publicly listed company. A new report showing a list of China's most successful companies puts ICBC at the top again after its 2019 annual profit of more than 391.79 billion yuan ($56.6 billion).

ICBC has spent 11 consecutive years as the nation's most profitable listed company, according to the 2020 list. Published by Warton Economic Research Institute the survey shows China's top 500 publicly listed companies generated combined profits of more than 4.9 trillion yuan last year. This was a 10.83 percent year-on-year increase.

The top 500, which are mostly listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, had a combined 38 trillion yuan in revenues in 2019. This represents about 75 percent of all revenues by all the companies listed on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

The top 500's revenues are equal to about 38.48 percent of the country's 99-trillion-yuan gross domestic product last year, according to the report. The research said listed companies were still an important driving force in China's continued economic development.

The companies that had increased in rank last year were those that found new ways to innovate existing industries, Shanghai-based research organization Warton's president Shen Hanyao said in the report. Companies that innovate in large industries such as technology, culture, entertainment, health and education had found themselves higher on this year's list, he said.

Beijing has the most publicly listed enterprises with 74 followed by Guangdong province with 71, Shanghai with 52, Zhejiang with 48 and Jiangsu with 43.