Chinese state firms' profits grow as economy improves

BEIJING - Combined profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reached 1.92 trillion yuan ($277.41 billion) in the first 10 months of the year, up 0.4 percent year-on-year, official data showed Friday.

This compared with an annual decline of 1.6 percent registered in the first nine months, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.