(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-18 17:11

BEIJING -- China's centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are expected to see annual profits leap some 30 percent in 2007 as they benefit from a strong economy, according to statistics released on Tuesday.

Aggregate profits of 152 SOEs under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) would probably hit 980 billion yuan (US$132.4 billion) for the whole year, SASAC said.

The statistics only include central-government entities.

In the January-November period, SOEs recorded gross profits totaling 918.66 billion yuan, up 31.7 percent from the same period last year. Net profits surged 33 percent to 552.21 billion yuan.

The enterprises' combined return on net assets was 11.7 percent for the first 11 months, representing an increase of 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Total assets climbed 21 percent to 14.6 trillion yuan.

Aggregate sales revenue rose 20.5 percent year-on-year to 8.72 trillion yuan.

Some 21 SOEs, including the recently listed China Railway Engineering Corporation, recorded sales revenue of more than 100 billion yuan for the January-November period, compared with 14 enterprises a year earlier, the SASAC said.

"The centrally administered SOEs are gaining in their ability to increase profits," Minister Li Rongrong of the SASAC said.

Statistics show that 139 of the enterprises, or more than 90 percent, increased profits year-on-year in the 11-month period, and 18 recorded profits of more than 10 billion yuan, against 14 a year earlier.

Shipbuilding, automotive, and shipping enterprises are becoming new, significant profit earners, joining the petroleum, power generation and telecommunications sectors, the SASAC said.