BEIJING — The combined profits of China's State-owned enterprises (SOEs) surged 55.4 percent year-on-year to 3.5 trillion yuan (about $547 billion) in the first nine months of 2021, official data showed on Oct 28.

During the period, SOEs saw their combined operating revenue up 23 percent year-on-year to nearly 54 trillion yuan, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Centrally administered SOEs saw their profits increase 52 percent year-on-year to 2.34 trillion yuan in the first nine months.

The combined revenue of centrally administered SOEs rose 22 percent year-on-year to 30.31 trillion yuan.

At the end of September, the debt-to-asset ratio of the country's SOEs came in at 64.2 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the level seen in the same period last year, the data showed.