BYD shares rise 10.1pc on post-results cheer
Shares of BYD, the biggest maker of rechargeable batteries on the mainland, yesterday rose 10.14 per cent to close at HK$13.90 after a better than expected full-year result.
The company said on Monday net profit grew 44.2 per cent to 1.61 billion yuan (HK$1.78 billion yuan) for the year to December. Sales rose 63.9 per cent to 21.21 billion yuan.
According to Thomson Financial estimates, last year's net profit at BYD had been expected to rise 35 per cent. BNP Paribas previously forecast the figure would rise about 36 per cent to 1.52 billion yuan.
'We will spend 3 billion yuan in capital expenditure this year, including 2 billion yuan on our automobile and battery businesses and the rest on our handset business,' said Wang Chuanfu, the president of BYD.
Revenue from the vehicle business, which accounted for 23 per cent of total sales, rose 51 per cent to 4.87 billion yuan and profit climbed 86 per cent to 755.9 million yuan.
The company plans to generate more than 6 billion yuan by selling about 200,000 vehicles this year, compared with 86,942 units last year. It will launch an electric-petrol hybrid model at the end of this year.
Sales for handset components and assembly services, contributed by the company's 65 per cent-owned unit, BYD Electronic (International), rose 79 per cent to 9.19 billion yuan, accounting for 43.3 per cent of total sales. Assembly services represented 33 per cent of sales last year, up from 2 per cent in the previous year.
BYD Electronic had 50 per cent growth in net profit to 1.09 billion yuan as sales rose 89 per cent to 5.77 billion yuan.
On March 13, Foxconn International Holdings, which had alleged that BYD had been given confidential information by former employees, withdrew its civil action against BYD after the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau said it would begin its own criminal investigation of BYD.
Mr Wang said the company would defend itself vigorously and was confident it would win the lawsuit.
