China's state companies report improving profitability

BEIJING - Profit declines for China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued but narrowed in November, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Friday.

China's non-financial SOEs raked in 2 trillion yuan ($309.1 billion) in profits from January to November, down 9.5 percent year on year, compared with a 9.8-percent drop for the first 10 months, said an MOF statement.

This was the first improvement in SOE profitability in the latter half of 2015, although difficulties remained as the Chinese economy is still struggling to find solid footing.

However, profit declines for SOEs administered by local governments fell increasingly steep.

These SOEs made 577.4 billion yuan ($89.2 billion) in profits in the first 11 months, down 7.3 percent, compared with drops of 6 percent for January-October, 2.7 percent for January-September and 1 percent for January-August.

Profitability in sectors including transportation, chemistry and electricity improved substantially in the first 11 months, while petroleum and construction material businesses suffered sharp profit drops.

Steel, coal and non-ferrous industries continued to see losses.

"China's SOEs operated stably and showed signs of improvement, but downward pressure was still considerable," said the MOF statement.