Investor sentiment toward China may have eased following recent releases of more positive economic data, but returns at state-owned firms aren’t among them.
Total profits realised at China’s state-owned enterprises fell 13.8 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to Rmb432bn, according to new figures released today by the Ministry of Finance that showed the rate of profit decline at state firms nationwide steeper in the first quarter compared to an annual fall of 6.7 per cent in 2015. Total operating revenue at state firms also fell 3 per cent year on year to Rmb9.95tn.
The ministry noted the petrochemicals and pharmaceutical industries had seen comparatively large profit gains, but acknowledged that petroleum, coal, steel and nonferrous metals industries had all sustained losses in the first quarter.