Minister in charge of sector says listed companies contribute two-thirds of the total, which hit 530b yuan last year
The profits of the mainland's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have increased tenfold in the past six years and those listed on stock markets now contribute to two-thirds of all profits of state firms, according to the minister in charge of the state-owned-business sector.
And the rate of return on assets and profitability of SOEs listed in Hong Kong matched their Hong Kong counterparts, said Li Rongrong , director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac).
The mainland has more than 1,000 SOEs listed at home, in Hong Kong and overseas. They own a third of the assets of all SOEs.
In an interview with the People's Daily, Mr Li said SOEs only earned 52 billion yuan in 1998 but their profits jumped to 531.2 billion yuan last year.
Mr Li said that the rate of return on total assets for SOEs listed in Hong Kong was 4.1 per cent - comparable to the 4.3 per cent for local Hong Kong companies. He said that showed the SOEs listed in Hong Kong were as good as the local companies.
'This fully reflects the significant improvement of the overall quality of SOEs and suggests the correctness and effectiveness of the policies by the Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council in deepening reforms of the state-owned-business sector,' Mr Li was quoted as saying.
