BEIJING -- The profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) recovered in May as economic activities gradually normalized, official data showed Monday.

Month on month, the combined profits of SOEs surged 251.1 percent in May, recovering to 94.5 percent of the level seen during the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

In the first five months, their profits totaled 663.09 billion yuan (about $93.65 billion), down 52.7 percent year-on-year due to the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

SOEs have generated combined revenue of 21.84 trillion yuan during the five-month period, down 7.7 percent from the same period last year, and their operating costs saw a 4.9-percent fall to 21.61 trillion yuan, the ministry said.

SOEs' debt-to-asset ratio came in at 64.6 percent at the end of May.

The figures, which exclude financial firms, were collected from SOEs in 36 provincial-level regions and those administered by the central government.