CENTRAL State firms in China continued to see strong revenue growth in the first three quarters of the year, official data showed yesterday.

Aggregate revenues of the country’s nearly 100 centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) increased 11 percent year on year to 21.1 trillion yuan (US$3.05 trillion) in the January-September period, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said.

The revenue growth picked up from 10.1 percent in the first half of the year. “There has been a continued steady trend,” SASAC spokesperson Peng Huagang said at a press conference.

In September, 19 central SOEs posted revenue improvement of more than 20 percent from a year ago.

Peng said the central SOEs also saw better profitability as their combined profits expanded 21.5 percent in the first nine months. Industrial companies, with profits surging 33.7 percent, contributed more than 80 percent to the total profit growth of central SOEs.

A series of other financial indicators of central SOEs were also released, including a further drop in the debt-asset ratio, vigorous fixed-asset investment and an upsurge in cash flow.(Xinhua)