Great Wall Motor net profit nosedives 52.35% YoY to RMB 5.027 billion in 2017

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Great Wall Motor Company Limited (Great Wall Motor), the Chinese largest SUV and pickup marker, announced that the company achieved operation revenue of RMB 101.169 billion in 2017, increasing 2.59% year on year. The net profit attributable to shareholders slumped 52.35% from a year earlier to RMB 5.027 billion last year. According to the financial report, the basic earnings per share were RMB 0.55. The company proposed distributing cash dividends of RMB 0.17 per share to shareholders. 

According to the financial expectation released before, the Great Wall Motor attributed its net profit slump to the excessive sales promotion, rising advertising and publicity expenses and increasing investment in products' R&D. 

The Great Wall Motor delivered a total of around 1.07 million vehicles last year, decreasing 0.4% year on year, which was far less than its initial annual sales target of 1.25 million vehicles. In terms of the unsatisfied sales performance last year, the automaker lowered its sales target to 1.16 million units in 2018.

Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, and Wang Fengying, the company's president, fined themselves by RMB 3 million and 2 million of annual salary respectively as self-punishment for the company failing the 2017 sales goal.

The Baoding-based automaker plans to build its vehicles in Russia with a factory capable of rolling out 80,000 vehicles annually set to start operations in 2019, the Chairman Wei Jianjun told reporters. Besides, he also said Great Wall Motor may sell vehicles in the U.S. staring 2021.