Profits of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) grew steadily in the first 10 months of 2019, official data showed. 

The combined profits of China's SOEs rose 5.4 percent year on year to 2.94 trillion yuan (about 418 billion U.S. dollars) for the January-October period, the Ministry of Finance said on its website. 

The pace edged down from the 6.6 percent increase in the first nine months. 

The centrally-administered SOEs generated a combined profit of 1.94 trillion yuan, up 7.5 percent year on year. 

Total revenues of the SOEs reached 50.13 trillion yuan during the period, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier. 

The debt-to-asset ratio of the SOEs stood at 64.3 percent by the end of October, unchanged from the same period last year, according to the ministry.