State-owned enterprises post profit increase in H1

China's State-owned and state-holding enterprises posted year-on-year growth of 2.4 percent in total profits during the first half of the year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Friday.

Total operating revenue of the enterprises stood at 40.24 trillion yuan ($5.96 trillion) for the January-June period, down 2.0 percent on a yearly basis.

However, their combined profits reached 2.25 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, marking a 2.4 percent year-on-year increase.

Taxes and fees payable by them hit 3.19 trillion yuan from January to June, rising 5.7 percent from a year earlier.

The asset-liability ratio of state-owned enterprises came in at 65.6 percent at the end of June, up 0.5 percentage points compared with the same period last year.