Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile (0175) said its net profit tripled to 16.6 billion yuan (HK$17.82 billion) last year, mainly boosted by a gain on deemed disposal of subsidiaries.

Geely raised its final dividend by 50 percent year-on-year to 33 HK cents for 2024.

After excluding the one-off gain and losses, Geely’s profit would reflect a 52 percent year-on-year increase to 8.52 billion yuan.

Total capital expenditures amounted to 13.31 billion yuan last year, mainly due to a higher investment in research and development with the group accelerating the pace of electrification and intelligentization of its vehicles and expanding investment in its new energy product matrix.

Geely has also planned to increase its capital expenditures to 15 billion yuan this year.

The EV maker has 10 new models in this year’s pipeline, following the launch of nine EV products last year.

Geely expects the demand for EVs to remain “stable.”

It also said the competition within the automotive industry in mainland China is intensifying in terms of technology and pricing and Chinese carmakers must handle trade barriers and tariff challenges.

Notably, a customer that includes a group of entities under the control of Geely’s founder and chairman Li Shufu and his associates had contributed 28 billion yuan, an amount exceeding 10 percent of the company’s revenue, which is also 15.5 percent higher than one year prior.

STAFF REPORTER

The Chinese carmaker launched nine EV products in 2024. Photo by REUTERS

Geely Automobile triples net profit to 16.6b yuan