H1 Financial forecasts of major Chinese automakers

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- By far, a slew of Chinese automakers had released their H1 financial forecasts successively, including Geely, Changan Automobile and JAC. The specified details on these automakers' H1 financial forecasts are as following:

Geely Auto H1 net profit likely shoot up over 50% year on year

Geely Auto's net profit in the first half of 2018 would surge over 50% compared with the corresponding period in 2017, the automaker announced on July 11.

Last year, Geely Auto's net profit totaled RMB 4.34 billion for the first six months. Therefore, it can be estimated that the company earned more than RMB 6.5 billion of net profit for the first half of this year.

According to the announcement, Geely Auto attributed its net profit growth to the overall sales jump and the products' portfolio improvement. From January to June, the Hangzhou-based automaker delivered 766,630 vehicles in total with a violent year-on-year growth of 44%.

Inspired by the blooming sales momentum last year and the competitive new model's launching planning, Geely Auto elevated its sales goal in 2018 to 1.58 million units. By the end of June, the automaker has already completed 49% of the goal, which was basically consistent with its planned development process.

FAW Car forecasts profit slump between 63% and 78% year on year in H1

FAW Car Co., Ltd. forecasted that it will post net profit between RMB 60 million and RMB 100 million during the first half of this year, slumping between 63% and 78% year on year, compared with RMB 270 million during the same period last year.

It is predicted that basic earnings per share will range between RMB 0.04 and 0.06 during the past six months, plunging from 64.7% to 76.5% over the previous year, compared with RMB 0.17 during the same period last year.

FAW Car attributed the net profit and operating revenue slumps to the increasingly intensified competition of auto market during the first half of this year, the price changes of raw materials and the structural adjustment of products.

On Nov. 18, FAW Car announced that it would transfer the relevant assets of Hongqi brand to its controlling shareholder, FAW Group for RMB 428 million. After FAW Car split off Hongqi brand, it turned loss into profits. FAW Car's 2017 sales data revealed that it delivered 239,500 vehicles with a year-on-year growth of 23.77%. Moreover, it earned revenue of RMB 27.902 billion in 2017, jumping 22.86% on an annual basis. It achieved a net profit surge of 129.4% over the previous year to RMB 280 million in 2017.

Changan Automobile H1 net profit to slump 63.21% to 67.54% year on year

Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd (Changan Automobile) forecasted that its net profit attributable to shareholders may reach RMB 1.5billion to RMB 1.7billion for the first half of this year, slumping 63.21% to 67.54% compared with the corresponding period in 2017. From January to June, the company saw its earnings per share drop to RMB 0.31 to 0.35 from RMB 0.96 in the year-ago period.

The automaker ascribed the net profit shrink to the comparatively drastic decline in the investment income from its joint ventures despite the growing profitability of its self-owned passenger vehicle (PV) company.

Indeed, Changan Automobile failed to complete its sales target of 3.3 million units last year with its annual sales volume falling 6.23% year on year to 2,872,456 units. The company has lowered its sales goal to 3.1 million units for 2018, while only 38.95% of the goal has been finished after half a year passed.

Great Wall Motor predicts to gain 52% net profit surge to RMB 3.7 billion in H1

Great Wall Motor (GWM) is expected to gain revenue of RMB 48.678 billion in the first half of 2018, jumping 17.99% from a year ago. Its net profit will reach RMB 3.7 billion, soaring 52.35% over the previous year. Moreover, the automaker's net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company is expected to reach RMB 3.68 billion, surging 52.07% on an annual basis.

GWM attributed the expected revenue growth to the optimization of product structure and the market shares improvement of WEY's sales.

It is known that GWM delivered 471,500 vehicles in the first half of 2018 with a year-on-year increase of 2.34%, completing 40.65% of its 2018 sales target of 1.16 million units. During the first half of 2018, GWM delivered 402,956 SUVs, edging up 1.32% compared with the same period last year.

JAC expects profit slump of 53% to RMB 164 million in H1

JAC forecasted net profit of RMB 164 million from January to June, slumping 53% compared to RMB 345 million during the same period last year, according to JAC's H1 financial forecast released on July 31.

The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed company after eliminating non-recurring profit and loss will drop around RMB 628 million, plummeting 326% over the previous year.

The abovementioned financial slump was mainly resulted from changes of JAC's major business as well as the influence of non-recurring loss and profit. Specifically, in terms of changes of JAC's major business, JAC suffered a 6.5% revenue drop for its major business on an annual basis during the first half of this year, due to an 8.16% sales skid and the impact of new energy vehicle (NEV) subsidy policy and NEV product structure. 

Moreover, exchange rate fluctuation and financing cost increase also resulted in around a RMB 104.69 million financial cost increase, compared with the same period last year.

Property depreciation preparation resulted from receivables, inventory, and special mould has increased about RMB 120.17 million compared with the same period last year.

As to the influence of non-recurring loss and profit, JAC was granted RMB 701.9269 million subsidies from governments, RMB 530.2572 million more than the same period last year.

It is noteworthy that among these automakers who released their H1 financial forecasts, BAIC Group is the only one automaker who had released its H1 financial report as of now. 

BAIC Group reports profits growth of 17% year on year.

BAIC Group reported a 9.5% revenue growth and a 17% profit increase in the first half of this year. Moreover, it delivered 1,203,000 vehicles in the first half of this year with an increase of 7.6% from the previous year.

According to Daimler's interim fiscal report, the profits of Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd. (Beijing Benz) can be calculated to exceed RMB 11 billion during the first half of 2018, since Daimler is a large shareholder of Beijing Benz.

Daimler gained earnings of 371 million euros (about RMB 2.934 billion) from Beijing Benz during the second quarter of this year, leaping 43.8% from a year ago. The earnings for the first half of this year reached 703 euros (about RMB 5.56 billion), jumping 28.28% over the previous year.

However, Daimler's earnings gained from BAIC Motor suffered decrease. In the second quarter, Daimler gained earnings of 14 million euros (about RMB 111 million) with a year-on-year decline of 26%, while its earnings during the first half of 2018 suffered a substantial year-on-year drop of 94.01% to RMB 17 million (about RMB 134 million).

Due to BAIC Motor's capital increase at the beginning of May, Daimler's equity in BAIC Motor decreased from 10.1% to 9.6%. This is one of the factors that resulted in Daimler's earning slide.

During the first half of this year, Beijing Benz delivered 346,000 vehicles with a year-on-year increase of 14%. Its net profit advanced 28.28% on an annual basis, signifying that the average profit of each vehicle was increased.