China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) maintained steady operations in the first half of the year, with total revenue showing an increase, according to official data released on Wednesday.

The data from the Ministry of Finance showed that during the period, SOEs generated more than 40.83 trillion yuan (about 5.72 trillion U.S. dollars) in operating revenue, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

The combined profits of SOEs edged down 0.6 percent year on year to nearly 2.27 trillion yuan, the data showed.

The SOEs saw their debt-to-asset ratio reach 64.9 percent at the end of June, according to the data.

These figures, excluding financial firms, were collected from SOEs in both provincial-level regions and those administered by the central government.

China will accelerate the process of optimizing the layout of the state capital and centrally-administered SOEs and adjusting their structure, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council said earlier this week.

The commission added that it will work to steer state capital toward major industries and key fields crucial to national security and serve as the lifeblood of the national economy, toward sectors such as public services, emergency response and public welfare, which concern the country's prosperity and people's wellbeing, and toward forward-looking and strategic emerging industries.