SAIC Motor Q1 net profit falls 50 pct

Shanghai, April 28 (Gasgoo.com) SAIC Motor Corp, China's biggest automaker, said on Tuesday its first quarter net profit dived nearly 50 percent from a year earlier due in part to lower investment returns, according to a Reuters report.

The Shanghai-based automaker said its net profit in the first three months ended March has fallen 49.46 percent to 626.94 million yuan ($91.82 million), down from 1.24 billion yuan a year earlier.

Operating income in the first quarter earnings were 27.22 billion yuan, down from 28.93 billion yuan a year earlier.

For the full year of 2008, net profit dropped 85.84 percent to 656.17 million yuan, hit partly by its investment in Korea's Ssangyong Motor, which has filed for bankruptcy protection.