China state firms' profit growth quickens slightly in Jan-Oct

Beijing

PROFIT growth of China state-owned firms quickened slightly in the first 10 months of 2014, but there is little sign of a turnaround as factories struggle to cope with falling prices and sluggish demand.

State-owned non-financial companies made combined profits of 2.1 trillion yuan (S$445.64 billion) between January and October, up 6.1 per cent from the same period of 2013, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.