China's centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are expected to see annual profits leap some 30 percent in 2007 buoyed by a strong economy, according to statistics released Tuesday.

Aggregate profits of 152 SOEs under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) would probably hit 980 billion yuan (132.4 billion U.S. dollars) for the whole year, SASAC said.

In the January-November period, SOEs recorded gross profits totaling 918.66 billion yuan, up 31.7 percent from the same period last year. Net profits surged 33 percent to 552.21 billion yuan.

The enterprises combined return on net assets was 11.7 percent for the first 11 months, representing an increase of 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Total assets climbed 21 percent to 14.6 trillion yuan.

Aggregate sales revenue rose 20.5 percent year-on-year to 8.72 trillion yuan.

Some 21 SOEs, including the recently-listed China Railway Engineering Corporation, recorded sales revenue of more than 100 billion yuan for the January-November period. This was compared to 14 enterprises a year earlier, the SASAC said.

"The centrally administered SOEs are gaining in their ability to increase profits," Minister Li Rongrong of the SASAC said.

Statistics showed that 139 enterprises, or more than 90 percent, increased profits year-on-year in the 11-month period. Eighteen recorded profits of more than 10 billion yuan, against 14 a year earlier.

Shipbuilding, automotive and shipping enterprises were becoming new, significant profit earners, joining those in petroleum, power generation and telecom sectors.

The SASAC said nine SOEs offered initial public offerings this year. The latest, China Railway, listed both in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

This indicated an accelerating pace compared with a total of 23 centrally administered SOEs getting listed in the past few years, according to SASAC figures.

Six Hong Kong-listed enterprises, including China COSCO, China Shenhua, PetroChina, China Aluminum, China Oilfield Services Limited and China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd, also made a comeback to list on mainland stock markets.

Li said SASAC would encourage qualified SOEs to list as a whole in 2008, and to list on both domestic and overseas markets.

There were also SOEs, especially in the power generation sector, that had some of its subsidiaries listed. This, however, had little impact on the market.

Such companies would be encouraged to gradually inject the assets of its core business into its already listed companies for their listing plan, Li said.

He also said the SASAC would actively boost the participation of the private sector and foreign investment in the share-holding reform of centrally administered SOEs.

China was currently introducing strategic investors, usually large overseas companies, to drive the share-holding reforms of state-owned enterprises.

The SASAC earlier denied a report saying it had detailed a listing plan for 30 centrally administered SOEs to list as a whole.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2007)