China's SOE Q1 profits up 3.3%

Combined profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) rose 3.3 percent year on year to 533.7 billion yuan (86.66 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter. The growth rate was markedly lower than the 7.7 percent in the same period last year and the 5.9 percent annual growth in 2013, data released Friday by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) showed. The slowdown was mainly seen in enterprises administered by local authorities, whose profits dropped 3.8 percent year on year. Profits from SOEs administered by the central government grew 5.1 percent year on year to 432.15 billion yuan. China's SOE revenues totaled 11 trillion yuan, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year, while their operation costs stood at 10.64 trillion yuan, up 6 percent. The amount of taxes payable totaled 940.59 billion yuan. By the end of March, the total assets of the enterprises increased 11.3 percent year on year to 93.83 trillion yuan, with liabilities at 60.9 trillion yuan, up 11.6 percent year on year. The construction material, real estate, automobile, electronics and electric power sectors posted comparatively high growth, while profit growth in the chemical, coal and textile industries dropped sharply. SOEs engaged in transportation, iron and steel and non-ferrous metals continued to face losses. The MOF's data, which excludes financial SOEs, were collected from SOEs of 36 provincial-level regions and those administered by the central government.