1st Ld-Writethru: Central SOEs deliver strong performance in H1

Centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) performed well in the first half of the year, with better performance expected in the second half, regulators said on Tuesday.

These SOEs have seen a steady rise of profitability, especially in the second quarter of the year, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council said.

In the first six months, they garnered an operating revenue of 11 trillion yuan (1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) and reaped 643 billion yuan of profits.

There are around 110 SOEs under the administration of SASAC, which include such giants as China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Sinopec Group and China Mobile.

Around 91 percent of these SOEs were profitable in the first half of 2015, SASAC said, citing lower cost and better operations.

With China's pro-growth policies expected to take effect and the companies' efforts to lower cost and improve efficiency, SASAC said these SOEs are generally optimistic about the second half. Endi