1st LD: China industrial profits up 16.1 pct in Jan.- Feb.

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- China's major industrial firms saw stronger profit growth in the first two months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.

Industrial companies respectively with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about 3.2 million U.S. dollars) reported profits of 969 billion yuan in the first two months, a 16.1-percent increase from a year earlier, the NBS said in a statement.

The reading was 5.3 percentage points higher than the growth registered in December, according to the NBS.

Among the 41 industries surveyed, 29 posted year-on-year profit growth during Jan.- Feb. period.

Industries like pharmaceuticals, coal mining and textiles all reported faster growth during the two-month period, said the NBS.

NBS statistician He Ping attributed the profit growth to improved profitability and reduced costs.

"While industrial profits maintained rapid growth, improvements were made in efficiency and profitability," He said.

In the first two months, costs per 100 yuan of revenue dropped 0.33 yuan from the same period last year, according to He.

He mentioned that the leverage ratio in Chinese industrial enterprises also fell. By the end of February, their debt-asset ratio dropped 0.8 percentage points from a year ago to 56.3 percent. Enditem