Profits of SOEs up 43 pct in first 11 months

BEIJING -- Profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the first 11 months hit 1.81 trillion yuan (US$271.92 billion), up 43.1 percent year on year, figures released Friday by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) show.

But profits in November were down 2.6 percent compared to the previous month, a website statement by the MOF said.

The statement did not give reasons for the decrease in profits.

Business revenue totaled 27.34 trillion yuan in the period, up 32.5 percent year on year. Revenue in November alone was 6.4 percent higher than in October.

During the first 11 months, the SOEs paid a total of 2.23 trillion yuan in taxes from January to November, up 21.4 percent year on year.

The statement said industries including real estate, electricity, tobacco, non-ferrous metals, and medicine saw profits rise month on month in November.

However, sectors including transport, textiles, electronics, and petrochemicals saw profits decline, the statement said, without providing more details.

China's SOEs include SOEs directly controlled by the central government and SOEs supervised by local governments, but exclude state-owned financial enterprises.