China's industrial-company profits swelled 42.1 percent in the first five months from a year earlier, hampering government efforts to cool investment in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Combined net income increased to 902.6 billion yuan ($119 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said today. Total sales jumped 27.4 percent to 14.2 trillion yuan.

Soaring profits help to fund the construction of factories and mines, raising the risk of overcapacity. Premier Wen Jiabao on June 14 highlighted the risk of a rebound in fixed-asset investment and signaled the central bank may raise interest rates or curb bank lending.

Chinese officials are concerned that an investment boom in stocks, factories and real estate, fueled by cash from record trade surpluses, may end in an abrupt economic slump.

Factory and property investment jumped 25.9 percent in the first five months from a year earlier, accelerating from the 25.5 percent growth through April.

China's economy, the world's fourth-largest, grew 11.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, up from a 10.4 percent expansion in the previous three months.

Tangshan Iron & Steel Co., a unit of China's second-biggest steelmaker, may report an 80 percent increase in first-half profit from a year earlier, the company said.

A trial program for state businesses to pay dividends, trimming the money available for investment, was announced last month.

Wen said two weeks ago that he's concerned by "rapid growth in industrial production and the trade surplus, fast investment growth, excessive liquidity, increasing inflationary pressure and energy conservation challenges."

The government is trying to curb the economy's dependence on exports and investment by boosting domestic consumption. The trade surplus surged 73 percent in May from a year earlier to $22.5 billion.