| Updated:
China factory profits grow
INDUSTRIAL firms in China enjoyed healthy growth in profits in December, according to official data.
Profits climbed 17.3 per cent to hit ¥895.2bn (£91bn), the National Bureau of Statistics revealed. December’s figure meant that Chinese industry made some ¥5.56 trillion in profit over the whole of 2012, up 5.3 per cent on 2011.
These profit numbers are yet another set of statistics suggesting the world’s second-largest economy may have overcome its slowdown.
Growth picked up for the first time in eight quarters in the last three months of 2012. And HSBC’s purchasing managers’ index business survey for the manufacturing sector climbed to a two-year high in January.