(Yicai) Dec. 27 -- Profits at China’s industrial companies rebounded in November, expanding for the fourth month in a row, proving that the country’s economic stimulus measures are working and demand is recovering, according to the latest data.

Profits at industrial firms with an annual turnover of at least CNY20 million (USD2.8 million) surged 29.5 percent last month from a year ago, according to data released today by the National Bureau of Statistics. This is a huge increase from October’s 2.7 percent growth.

And profits at these companies will probably continue to rise this month, said Zheng Houcheng, chief macroeconomist at Yingda Securities. Manufacturing is spearheading the recovery, and production and sales are better coordinated than a year ago, boosting revenue.

Earnings climbed for the fifth straight month in November from a year earlier, spurring profit growth, said Yu Weining, a statistician at the NBS’ Department of Industrial Statistics. Revenue advanced 6.1 percent year on year in November, 3.6 percentage points faster than in October.

Unit costs have been dropping for the past five months and profit margins have expanded four months in a row. The cost per CNY100 (USD14) of revenue was CNY83.92 (USD11.74) last month, a drop of CNY0.62 (USD0.087) from a year ago. While the profit margin expanded 1.29 percentage point to 7.15 percent.

The revenue of industrial firms above a designated size edged up 1 percent in the first eleven months from a year earlier, a jump of 0.7 percentage point from January to October. While their profits slumped 4.4 percent from the same period last year, down 3.4 percentage points from the first 10 months. The decline has been narrowing each month since March and has fallen below 5 percent for the first time this year.

Nearly 60 percent of the 41 industrial categories reported an uptick in profit from January to last month, and 80 percent of them posted faster profit growth. The raw material industry made a big contribution to the improvement in industrial profits, with its decline in profits narrowing 8.5 percentage points from January to November from the first 10 months.

Editor: Kim Taylor