BEIJING, March 27 -- China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) maintained steady operations in the first two months of the year, according to official data released on Thursday.

Data from the Ministry of Finance showed that during the period, the SOEs generated nearly 12.49 trillion yuan (about 1.74 trillion U.S. dollars) in operating revenue, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier.

The combined profits of SOEs increased 0.1 percent year on year to 625.5 billion yuan, the data showed.

The SOEs saw their debt-to-asset ratio reach 64.9 percent at the end of February, up 0.1 percentage points year on year, according to the ministry.

These figures, which exclude financial firms, were collected from SOEs in provincial-level regions and those administered by the central government.