BEIJING, April 17 -- Less than half of Chinese small-and-micro businesses made profits in the first quarter this year, according to an academic report released on Friday.

Only about 46.3 percent of enterprises surveyed made a profit in Q1 while nearly a quarter were in the red, up 13.8 percent year on year.

Turnover and employment growth also fell in Q1 year on year.

China's economic growth slowed to 7 percent in the first quarter this year, down from 7.3 percent in the last quarter of 2014, official data showed on Wednesday.