China's state-owned enterprises post nearly 40% rise in profits last year

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw profits increase 37.9 percent year on year to 1.99 trillion yuan (301.5 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Monday.

Business revenue reached 30.33 trillion yuan, up 31.1 percent from a year ago. Both profits and business revenue doubled from five years earlier, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

SOEs maintained profit momentum and posted steady growth in the latter half of 2010, which contributed to the healthy development of the national economy, according to the statement.

Generally, company profits in the chemical, electric producing, non-ferrous metal and transportation sectors rose 200 percent on average from 2009.

However, company profits in the telecom, tobacco, auto, oil making and refining sectors dropped, the ministry said.