China's largest automaker SAIC Motor reported double-digit year-on-year decrease in both first-half revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders amongst a prolonged downturn in China's auto market.
According to the semi-annual report, SAIC Motor's revenue for the first six months slide 19.52% from the previous year to RMB367.916 billion, while its shareholders' net profit slumped 27.49% to RMB13.764 billion.
Excluding the impact of certain no-recurring gains and losses, the first-half net profit still presented a sharp year-over-year decline of 27.61%. Besides, basic earnings per share reached at RMB1.178, versus RMB1.625 for the same period in 2018.
Saddled with intensified downward pressure in macro economy, more severe supply-demand imbalance caused by the emission standard transformation and new energy vehicle (NEV) subsidy phase-out, the domestic auto market still remained negative from the second half of 2018, said SAIC Motor.
In the first half of 2019, automakers sold 12.365 million vehicles across China, a year-on-year decrease of 11.8%. Of that, PV sales volume shrank 12.9% to 10.162 million units, while CV sales fell 6.7% to 2.202 million units.
Facing the strong headwinds from the cooling market climate, the company is striving to foster new driving forces. During the first two quarters, SAIC Motor sold roughly 82,000 NEVs, achieving a surge of 42% over the prior-year. Sales volumes of vehicles exported and sold in overseas markets grew 11.5% to 145,000 units.
But the remarkable increase in NEV and export businesses still failed to offset the downturn in domestic fuel-burning vehicle sector partially due to the higher base number for the first half of 2018 and the emission standard switch.
The complete vehicle sales volume for the first half were down by 16.6% to 2.937 million units, of which PV and CV sales volume reached 2.538 million units (-17.6%) and 399,000 units (-9.6%) respectively, said SAIC Motor.
According to the latest financial report, the Shanghai-based auto giant is endeavoring to inspire the domestic market demands by accelerating the clearance of models that meet older Stage Ⅴ standard, increasing inventories of China Ⅵ vehicles, offering discount to internal staff and other measures. Meanwhile, saving cost and improving operation efficiency are also the highlights for SAIC near-term works.
