Weichai Power 2008 net profit down 4.4%

Shanghai, April 29 (Gasgoo.com) Weichai Power Co., Ltd. (000338.SZ), one of China's largest manufacturers of diesel engines, has recently announced its 2008 annual profit report and 2009 first quarter profit report, xinhuanet.com today.

The annual report shows that in 2008 Weichai Power achieved net profit of 1.931 billion yuan ($282.8 million), down 4.4% from 2007; each share earned 2.32 yuan and the company plans to pay shareholders dividends of 0.13 yuan a share.

According to the quarterly report, Weichai Power posted revenue of 6.166 billion yuan and net profit of 361 million yuan in the first quarter of 2009, with each share earning 0.43 yuan.

Due to the raw material cost hike and financial crisis, the sales of Weichai Power products fell sharply in late 2008 and its earnings in the fourth quarter were also dragged down. In the whole year of 2008, the company sold 296,000 engines, up 20.8% year on year, including 197,000 heavy truck engines.

Weichai Power has decided to diversify its product lineup and aims to achieve sales revenue of 35.2 billion yuan this year. The company expects to see further growth in sales of engines, transmissions and sedan powertrains, and gain more than 36% market share of heavy-truck OEMs.