Profits of Chinese SOEs down 9.1% in Q1

BEIJING - Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw profits fall 9.1 percent year on year to hit 482.86 billion yuan ($76.58 billion) during the first quarter of 2012, the Ministry of Finance said Wednesday.

The figure further slowed from the 10.9-percent growth registered during the first two months, the ministry's data showed.

The ministry said profits in the steel, building materials, chemical and nonferrous industries dropped the most, while the tobacco, auto, power and telecommunications sectors saw big profit gains.

On a monthly basis, the SOEs' profits increased by 32.2 percent from February to March.

Profits of centrally-administered SOEs slid 7 percent from a year earlier to 345.6 billion yuan during the first quarter, while SOEs under local governments saw profits decrease 14.2 percent to 137.26 billion yuan.

In the first three months, Chinese SOEs saw revenues grow 12.9 percent year-on-year to 9.46 trillion yuan.

They turned in taxes of 943.5 billion yuan during the period, up 16 percent from one year earlier.

Their net sales margin ratio stood at 3.7 percent in the first quarter, down one percentage point from a year ago, while the rate of return on equity was 1.4 percent, down 0.4 percentage point year on year.

The report does not include SOEs in the financial sector, the ministry said.