BEIJING - Profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) fell in October from the previous month, extending the downward trend to four consecutive months, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Friday.

October profits dropped 12.4 percent to 160 billion yuan ($25 billion) from that of September, showing a reduction margin even greater than that of a month earlier.

Profits in the first ten months expanded 16 percent year-on-year to 1.87 trillion yuan, and sales revenue increased 23.9 percent to 30.15 trillion yuan year-on-year.

Profits of centrally-administered SOEs stood at 1.27 trillion yuan during the January to October period, up 12.1 percent year-on-year, but the October reading was down 20.7 percent from the previous month.

On a month-on-month basis, sharper profit growth was seen in the transportation, chemical manufacturing, real estate and light industries, while petrochemical, steel and non-ferrous metal producers saw significant profit declines.