BEIJING — China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw its revenue rise by 6.82 percent in the first half of this year.

As of Aug 30, a total of 9,024 firms listed on the board had released their semiannual reports, the Shanghai Securities News reported.

Their total revenue in H1 stood at 851.78 billion yuan (about $119.8 billion), a rise of 6.82 percent compared with the same period last year.

During the same period, net profit of listed firms came in at 37.4 billion yuan, down by 4.75 percent and narrowing from a 20.63-percent drop in 2018.

Performance of listed firms rebounded in H1 this year, as companies' operation stabilized and efforts to promote innovation-driven development were stepped up, the NEEQ said.

Launched in 2013, the NEEQ supplements the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and is seen as a better financing channel for SMEs, with low costs and simple listing procedures.