China's state-owned enterprises registered net profits and revenues in the first 11 months of 2011, over 50 billion yuan higher versus last year.

Authorities say the main task for next year is to maintain "stable and relatively fast" growth and to improve the evaluation policy of the listed companies and their holdings, amid the global economic turmoil. Xie Sisi has more.

Figures from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission(SASAC) shows, China's central SOEs are expected to wrap up 900 billion yuan in combined profits by the end of this year, up from 849 billion yuan registered last year.

During the past 11 months, the combined net profits of the central SOEs rose 3.6 percent year-on-year, but that's almost 50 percent lower versus the growth rate from 2009 to 2010.

The SASAC sets the revenue and growth target for SOEs in 2012 and says they can not be lower than the average level three years ago.

Huang Shuhe, deputy director of SASAC, said, "In 2012, the annual assessment for China's central SOEs will be focusing on two major areas. One is to guide them(central SOEs) to be better prepared for greater difficulties and challenges ahead and ensure steady growth. Second is to promote enterprise transformation, upgrades and scientific development. The failure of doing so will lead to the loss of our competitiveness and make it hard for the central SOEs to gain the top position worldwide."

Huang added that next year will be a tough year for SOEs as the global economic downshift and higher commodity prices will weigh on their profitability. SASAC says it will put more efforts into upgrading structure and improving the overall management structure.

Huang said, "Better transformation and upgrade and more opening up to new markets will help central SOEs better achieve its value."

China currently has 117 central SOEs. Business revenues for the centrally administered SOEs accounted for approximately 42 percent of China's gross domestic product(GDP) last year, while the taxes they paid accounted for about 17 percent of the country's total fiscal revenue.