Geely races ahead as net triples to 16.6b yuan

Staff reporter and agencies

Geely Automobile's (0175) full-year profit beat analyst estimates after the Chinese carmaker increased sales and reduced costs to better compete in the cut-throat Chinese market.

Net profit tripled to 16.6 billion yuan (HK$17.82 billion) last year, mainly boosted by a gain on the deemed disposal of subsidiaries. Revenue climbed 34 percent to 240.2 billion yuan in the 12 months ended in December.

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 expenditure 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 also plans to increase its capital expenditure to 15 billion yuan this year.

Geely has 10 new electric vehicle models in this year's pipeline, following the launch of nine products last year.

Geely expects demand for EVs to remain stable, as competition within the mainland intensifies and Chinese carmakers grapple with trade barriers and tariff challenges.

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

Meanwhile, the European Union is probing whether China provided unfair subsidies for a BYD (1211) electric car plant in Hungary, the Financial Times reported. Hungary's Europe Minister Janos Boka told the FT that Budapest had not been informed about the probe.