China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) raked in a combined profit of 230.9 billion yuan (US$33.8 billion) in the first three months this year, industry authorities announced Friday.

The profit figure in the first quarter represented a 93 percent growth year on year, said the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in a statement on its website.

The centrally controlled SOEs posted a combined operating revenue of 3.53 trillion yuan in the first quarter, up 49.7 percent year on year.

The statement did not specify the reasons for the profit and revenue surges, but experts from the SASAC research center attributed the jump to the low comparison basis last year, when many Chinese firms were reeling from the global economic downturn.

There are currently 126 centrally-administered SOEs under the SASAC.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2010)