Foreign companies operating or selling in China bucked the country’s slowdown trend last year, even as the world’s second-largest economy appears to have decelerated more than official figures suggest.

China’s biggest economic slowdown in three decades is provoking angst among companies that have become used to its booming economic expansion. The pain is not evenly spread, however, as a Financial Times data analysis shows.

Overall, the revenues of 2,891 foreign non-financial companies grew 19.8 per cent last year, compared to 13.9 per cent in 2017, according to data from financial intelligence provider FactSet. Within this group, 54 per cent of companies posted faster growth rates in 2018 compared to 2017, counterbalancing the deceleration or outright revenue decline of the rest.