BEIJING - Net profit growth of Chinese listed companies slowed in the first half of this year amid soaring inflation at home and economic uncertainty abroad, according to their half-year reports.

Data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges shows that the profits of 2,272 listed firms totaled 998.94 billion yuan ($156.4 billion) in the first half of 2011, up 22.35 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, China's listed companies registered year-on-year net profit increases of more than 37.32 percent on average.

Of the companies, ICBC, China's largest bank, was the most profitable firm with 109.48 billion yuan of profit, or about 11 percent of the total.

Fifty blue-chip firms contributed to 62.5 percent of the profits of all companies combined.