(Xinhua) 20:48, April 13, 2017
BEIJING, April 13 -- The combined net profits of China's centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) soared 26.5 percent in the first quarter to 226.42 billion yuan(33 billion U.S. dollars), the state assets regulator said Thursday.
Among 102 central SOEs, 99 saw profits in the first three months, with 81 companiescollecting more profits than a year ago. Forty-three saw profit increases of more than 10percent, according to a report from the State-owned Assets Supervision andAdministration Commission (SASAC).
Strong profits were reported among traditional sectors such as oil, steel, non-ferrousmetals and coal, as well as new sectors, including advanced manufacturing, medicine andmodern service sectors.
"Central SOEs are off to a good start, signaling that the economy is stabilizing and marketdemand is gradually improving," Shen Ying, chief accountant of SASAC, said at a pressconference.
Looking forward, many favorable factors will sustain the strong performance of centralSOEs, such as rising producer prices, recovering demand and stronger corporateconfidence, Shen said.
China's producer price index, which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, roseyear on year for a seventh month in March, and is likely to continue the steady growth, shesaid.
China's manufacturing sector stayed above the boom-bust mark for the eighth month in arow last month. "The business confidence of most central SOEs strengthened," Shenadded.
However, facing both domestic and external uncertainties, central SOEs may see theirprofit growth slow somewhat later this year, according to Shen.
Their total revenue rose 19.2 percent to 6 trillion yuan, 4 percentage points higher thangrowth in the first two months.
Central SOEs paid about 530 billion yuan in taxes and fees, up 7.5 percent from a yearearlier, the report showed.
Meanwhile, central SOEs in telecommunications, electricity and oil sectors lowered theprices of their products to help cut overall costs.
