BEIJING -- China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reported another monthly decline in profits in September, extending the downward trend starting in July, according to a statement by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.

Gross profits of the SOEs rose 19.4 percent year-on-year to 1.71078 trillion yuan ($264.49 billion) in the first nine months, but the SOEs have suffered a month-on-month decline in profits since July, with profits down 5 percent, 10.5 percent and 2.7 percent respectively in July, August and September.

In breakdown, gross profits of the centrally administered SOEs rose 15.6 percent year-on-year to 1.16628 trillion yuan in the first three quarters while those under the local governments saw their profits up 28.4 percent to 544.51 billion yuan, the ministry said.

Net profits of the SOEs during the January-September period totaled 1.28838 trillion yuan, said the ministry.

Business revenues rose 24.3 percent year-on-year to 27.0527 trillion yuan during the first nine months. On a monthly basis, the SOEs' revenues gained 3.9 percent in September.

Business revenues of centrally administered SOEs rose 23.6 percent to 17.20419 trillion yuan in the first three quarters while that of the SOEs under the local governments increased 25.6 percent to 9.84851 trillion, according to the ministry.

The SOEs have turned in taxes of 2.30297 trillion yuan, up 26.6 percent from one year earlier. The net sales margin ratio stood at 4.8 percent from January to September, down 0.3 percentage points from a year ago while the rate of return on equity reached 5.8 percent, up 0.1 percentage points over the previous year, the ministry said.

The building materials, chemicals, commerce and trade, coal and petroleum sectors reported big year-on-year gains in profits for the first nine months while the non-ferrous metal businesses reported wider monthly declines during the July-September period.