Chinese SOE profits down 11.6% Jan-June

BEIJING -- Profits of China's State-owned enterprises fell 11.6 percent year-on-year to 1.02 trillion yuan ($161.4 billion) in the first half of 2012, showed data released on Monday.

On a monthly basis, the SOEs' combined profits reversed the previous downward trend with a 20.6-percent gain in June, according to a statement posted on the website of the Ministry of Finance, without elaboration on the reasons for the rebound.

During the January-June period, the tobacco, auto, post and telecommunications industries saw big profit gains, while the transportation, chemicals, construction materials and nonferrous metals industries experienced steep declines.

Chinese SOEs saw revenues grow 11.1 percent year-on-year to 19.85 trillion yuan in the first six months of the year, the statement said.

Their net sales margin ratio came in at 3.8 percent, down 1.1 percentage points from a year ago, while the rate of return on equity was 2.9 percent, down 0.9 percentage points year on year.

In breakdown, the profits of centrally administered SOEs slid 10.4 percent from a year earlier to 695.21 billion yuan January-June, while SOEs under local governments saw profits decrease 13.9 percent to 325.16 billion yuan.

The report does not include SOEs in the financial sector.