BEIJING -- China's centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) posted a net profit increase of 14.6 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, China's SOE watchdog said Friday.

This increase was 0.4 percentage points higher than that of the first five months.

The combined net profits of the government's 120 central SOEs totaled 457.17 billion yuan ($70.88 billion) during the period, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said in a statement on its website.

The administration did not give any explanation for the profit increase or the lower growth rate.

The SASAC said revenues for central SOEs rose 24.2 percent year-on-year to hit 9.69 trillion yuan from January to June.

The central SOEs had 851.4 billion yuan payable in taxes and fees for the first six months, up 26.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the statement.