State-owned Enterprises Post 16.7% YoY Rise in Total Profits for First Quarter

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The latest official data from the Ministry of Finance points to accelerating profit growth at China’s state-owned enterprises in the first quarter of 2018.

Figures released by MOFCOM on the performance of China’s state-owned and state share-controlled enterprises during the first three months of the year indicates that total profits rose by 16.7% year-on-year to reach 711.04 billion yuan, for a growth acceleration of 7.8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2017.

SOE total operating income was 12.9529 trillion yuan in the first quarter, for a YoY rise of 8.9%, while the operating income of central SOE’s was 7.7019 trillion yuan, for a YoY rise of 8.9%, and that of local SOE’s 5.25111 trillion yuan, for a YoY gain of 8.8%.

Central SOE’s posted a profit of 492.91 billion yuan in Q1 for a YoY rise of 15.6%, while local SOE profits were 218.13 billion yuan, for a rise of 19.4%.

According to MOFCOM the debt-asset ratios of China’s central SOE’s are under control, posting a modest decline to 67.79% from 68.30% during the first two months of the year.

Total assets of central SOE’s grew by 7.0% in the first quarter to reach 76.25518 trillion yuan, while debts posted growth of 6.1% to reach 51.69372 trillion yuan.

Local SOE’s saw a 11.9% YoY rise in their total assets to 87.8216 trillion yuan, while total debts posted an 11.2% increase to reach 54.87878 trillion yuan.

Total operating costs of SOE’s in the first quarter were 12.4688 trillion yuan for a YoY rise of 8.3%, with sales costs, administrative costs and financing costs posting increases of 5.4% 12.5% and 12.9% respectively.

Sectors where Chinese SOE’s saw the strongest profit increases included steel, coal, oil and gas and power. while non-ferrous metals saw a sizeable decline in profits.