BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China''s 152 central government-owned enterprises posted a combined profit of 918.66 bln yuan in the first 11 months of the year, up 31.7 pct year-on-year, the director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), Li Rongrong, said.

Li said at a meeting of heads of enterprises that 18 central government-controlled firms had profits of over 10 bln yuan during the period, and the most profitable sectors include petrochemical, power, telecommunications, auto and shipping.

The 152 central government firms are expected to book a combined profit of 980 bln yuan in 2007, up 30 pct, Li said.

In the first 11 months, the 152 enterprises had combined sales of 8.716 trln yuan, up 20.5 pct year-on-year. Sales are expected to hit 9.6 trln yuan in 2007, up 20 pct.

The central government collected 765.43 bln yuan in taxes from the 152 firms in the first 11 months, up 24 pct.

Last week, China''s State Council, or cabinet, announced that next year it will start collecting dividends from central government-controlled companies, many of which have subsidiaries listed on overseas stock markets.

Eighteen companies in the resource and telecom industries which will be required to pay an annual dividend to the government of 10 pct of net profit, including CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC, China Mobile China Telecom, and China Netcom.

About 99 firms in steel, transport, electronics and trade will pay a dividend of 5 pct of net profit, including Chinalco and Baosteel Group.

This year the dividends are on trial at half the levels to be charged in 2008.

(1 usd = 7.38 yuan) zachary.wei@xfn.com

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