Change eats into net at Jianghuai Auto

FIRST-HALF earnings at Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co fell 19.7 percent despite an increase in total revenue as the firm changed strategy to invest in passenger car production.

Net income declined to 227 million yuan (US$29.9 million) from January to June, the Anhui Province-based car maker said in its statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. Sales revenue rose 25.12 percent to 6.6 billion yuan during the same period from a year earlier.

The car maker, a specialist in making commercial vehicles, attributed the lower profit to its initial investment in the passenger car segment as it aimed to benefit from China's accelerating auto sales with a wider line-up of products.

The company raised 811 million yuan in April through selling additional shares. It plans to invest 13 billion yuan in a plant to assemble multi-purpose vehicles with an annual output of 60,000 units.