SHARES of Great Wall Motor Co., China’s largest maker of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), soared yesterday after the company reported strong 2021 interim results.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed firm’s preliminary first-half results showed a more than three-fold increase in net profit thanks to higher sales volume.

Great Wall Motor’s Hong Kong-listed H shares rose as much as 15.23 percent to HK$31.40 (US$4.04) in early trade yesterday, the highest intraday level since January. Its Shanghai-listed shares also advanced 10 percent to 50.07 yuan (US$7.74).

The Hebei-based firm said late Tuesday that its first-half net profit surged to 2.83 billion yuan, compared with 802 million yuan in the same period a year earlier. It attributed the three-fold increase to rising automobile sales volume and gross profit.

Great Wall Motor’s sales in the first half of the year totaled 618,211 units, up 56.5 percent year on year. The firm sold 391,541 units of its Haval SUVs, an increase of 49.3 percent year on year, making the Haval brand the best-selling SUVs in China. The firm’s Haval H6 brand won the top SUV sales in China for a total of 97 months.

The firm’s overseas sales totaled 61,672 units, up 200.3 percent year on year and accounting for nearly 10 percent of Great Wall Motor’s overall sales.

The firm has achieved good performance in overseas markets such as Russia, Australia, Chile and South Africa.

The carmaker’s second-quarter revenue and net profit were solid despite “raw-material price hikes and chip supply shortage” that hurt sales in April and May, Daiwa Capital Markets said, noting Great Wall Motor’s revenue rose 32 percent and profit climbed 3 percent from a year earlier. Daiwa said it expected net-profit to grow 55 percent this year. (SD-Agencies)