"From January to October this year, the sales incomes of central enterprises under the Capital Regulatory Commission of the State Council witnessed rapid growth, dramatic increase in profits and continual improvement of assets quality. The sales income of these enterprises is expected to exceed 5.3 trillion yuan, and profit reaped is to top 450 billion yuan which is a new record high".

Li Rongrong, director of the Capital Regulatory Commission of the State Council, made the remarks at the Central Enterprise Responsible Members' Conference held on Dec. 13. Li said that in 2004 these central enterprises have witnessed a favorable situation of rapid growth in sales income, dramatic increase in profits and continued improvement of asset quality, giving further play to their key role in the national economy.

Profits earned continued to increase by a big margin. From January to October, the central enterprises registered a total profit of 418.89 billion yuan, up 145.45 billion yuan from last year, or a 53.2 percent increase.

The assets quality and performance efficiency of these central enterprises have been further improved. By the end of October this year, the total assets of 186 central enterprises had hit 9215.07 billion yuan, up 12.5 percent from last year; and total net assets had amounted to 3947.32 billion yuan, up 10.5 percent from last year. The profit rate of net assets is estimated to be 6.6 percent, or 1.6 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year. The rate of total asset returns is expected to reach 6.2 percent, up 1.2 percentage points. Through a general check-up on enterprise assets and implementation of a new accounting system, the ratio of non-performing loans has dropped considerably and asset quality has been further improved.

The central enterprises have further revealed their contribution to economic and social development. In the first 10 months, central enterprises had delivered taxes worth 364.63 billion yuan to the state, up 17.3 percent, accounting for more than half of the total taxes paid by state-own and state holding industrial and commercial enterprises.

By People's Daily Online