Great Wall Motor’s net profit falls 3.3%

    DOMESTIC carmaker Great Wall Motor Co. said Friday its first half net profit fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier due to falling sedan sales, as problems delay the launch of a flagship sports utility model.

    Great Wall, the producer of China’s top selling sports utility vehicles, said its first-half profit fell to 3.95 billion yuan (US$642.3 million) from 4.09 billion yuan a year earlier. Vehicle sales in the period fell 6.5 percent to 346,310 vehicles, including a 51 percent fall in sedan deliveries to 53,053 vehicles amid “fierce competition” in the sector, the company said. Sales for its core sports utility vehicles were up 21 percent to 225,621 vehicles.

    Baosteel net drops on weak steel prices

    BAOSHAN Iron & Steel Co. (Baosteel), China’s biggest listed steelmaker by stock market value, posted a 14.8 percent fall in first-half net profit, reflecting weak prices and slackening demand growth, the company said Friday.

    Net profit dropped to 3.15 billion yuan (US$512.1 million) from 3.7 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It did not provide profit figures for the April-June quarter.

    IBM to help Inspur design servers

    INTERNATIONAL Business Machines Corp. (IBM) will help China’s largest server vendor Inspur International design server systems, the two companies said Friday.

    IBM will make its DB2 database software and Websphere application software available for use on Inspur’s line of K1 servers. IBM will also make available its POWER8 processors and support chips to help Inspur’s development, while providing other technical assistance, the companies said.

    Beidahuang to buy small planes

    CHINA Beidahuang General Aviation Co. plans to buy more than 40 planes and helicopters by 2020, which would expand its fleet, to around 130 aircraft, its general manager said.

    China Beidahuang, which specializes in forestry and agriculture services, already has 6 helicopters, Guo Qingcai said Thursday. “It’s the first time for us to have helicopters on the fleet. They are very useful for forestry protection and some agriculture related missions,” said Guo. The company plans to add 10-15 small helicopters in the few next years, followed by bigger models, such as Kamov K32, he added.