Chinese industrial businesses saw their profits rise by 9.8 percent year on year in the first five months of 2014, official data showed on Friday.
Total profits of industrial companies with annual business revenue of more than 20 million yuan (3.2 million U.S. dollars) reached 2.28 trillion yuan from January to May, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
The profits growth was slightly down from 10-percent increase recorded in the first four months.