Guangdong?sees a record industrial profit of more than 300.88 billion yuan ($48.53 billion) in the first eight months of this year, figures from the province's statistics bureau showed on Wednesday.

This is an increase of 27.3 percent year-on-year and up 4.6 percentage points on the figure for January to July.

Industrial profit is regarded as an important indication of the real economy's development and is watched closely by relevant departments and companies.

Qiu Jun, chief statistician at the provincial bureau of statistics, said: "The increase in the province's industrial profit indicates that the production and operation of companies have greatly improved, along with earnings.

"This indicates that most of the companies in Guangdong have bottomed out and the province's industrial production is maintaining growth momentum," Qiu told a press conference on Wednesday.

Many companies in Guangdong, one of the country's economic powerhouses, have experienced grim times because of the poor global economy and rising production costs and prices of raw materials in recent years.