BYD Co. expects stronger earnings in the first quarter on the back of the launch of new car models and China’s support for green cars, after the Warren Buffett-backed car and battery maker reported a 22 percent decline in 2014 net profit.

    The Shenzhen-based company, which is 9.1 percent-owned by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said yesterday that net profit for last year totaled 433.5 million yuan (US$69.8 million), down from 553.1 million yuan a year earlier, as increased competition in the market for conventional cars combined with a slowdown in China’s auto market to take a toll on earnings.

    The decline in earnings was in line with the company’s earlier forecasts of a 21 percent drop in full-year net profit of 437.9 million yuan. Its full-year revenue rose 11 percent to 55.37 billion yuan from 49.77 billion yuan.

    Despite the weak 2014 earnings, BYD said that it expects a first-quarter net profit of 100 million yuan to 150 million yuan, sharply higher from the 11.97 million yuan in net profit it reported in the previous year, benefiting from China’s support for green cars in a bid to curb pollution as well as the launch of several new traditional gasoline-powered car models that would help drive car sales.

    “The group’s new energy vehicle business is expected to sustain its strong growth momentum,” it said.

    The company’s revenue from green-car operations increased by about six times to around 7.25 billion yuan in 2014, accounting for nearly 28 percent of BYD’s automobile business revenue.

    Sales volume of BYD’s plug-in hybrid car, the Qin, grew by nine times in 2014, the company added, without giving exact figures. BYD and Daimler AG also in September launched their jointly developed electric car brand Denza. (SD-Agencies)