Dongfeng Motor's net profit falls over 70% in Q1

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai April 25) - Dongfeng Motor Corporation has publicly released its performance review for the first quarter of the year, Caijing reported today. According to the review, the Wuhan-based manufacturer's total business returns for the quarter totaled 5.21 billion yuan ($825.36m), 3.98 percent less than the first quarter result from 2011. Dongfeng's shareholders earned 53.27 million yuan ($8.44m) in profit, a full 72.03 percent less than last year. The manufacturer earned .0266 yuan ($.0042) for every share of its stock.

In actuality, Dongfeng has been relying on income from its investments to ensure growth in profits. However, this source of income has been shrinking in the past few years. Starting in 2010, when Dongfeng's investment income exceeded 700 million yuan ($106.21m), it fell to 590 million yuan ($93.22m) in 2011 and finally to just 111 million yuan ($17.58m) in the first quarter of this year. The manufacturer's largest source of investment income, the Dongfeng Cummins Engine Company, saw its sales fall 35.51 percent in the first quarter of the year.

Aside from investment income, Dongfeng's other operations all ran deficits this quarter. When subtracting income investment from its net profit, Dongfeng ran a net loss of 42.13 million yuan ($6.67m) last quarter. Dongfeng's stock fell 1.65 percent on Monday, finishing at 3.58 yuan ($.5694).