China's Jiangling Motors H1 net surges 85 pct

SHANGHAI, Aug 23 Reuters reported that China's Jiangling Motors Co Ltd of which Ford Motor Co owns nearly 30 percent, said on Friday its first-half net profit surged 85 percent year as sales of its minivans and light trucks hit a record.

Lower costs also helped net profit rise to 130 million yuan ($16 million), Jiangling said in a 2002 interim results report.

"Our company sold a record 24,968 vehicles in the first half of 2002, a rise of 29.76 percent against the same period of last year," said the report published in the official Securities Times.

Turnover rose 18 percent to 2.02 billion yuan, it said.

U.S. auto giant Ford Motor Co owns 29.96 percent of Jiangling, based in China's central province of Jiangxi.

"The rise in our net profit was mainly due to increased sales of our products, lower costs and financial expenses," the statement said.

The firm forecast its net profit for the first three quarters of 2002 would rise more than 50 percent year on year.

The report said the figures were unaudited and compiled under domestic accounting standards.

Under international accounting standards, Jiangling said 2002 interim net profit was 125.10 million yuan, but gave no comparative figure. It said last year that pre-tax interim profit was 31.07 million yuan.

Jiangling has hard currency B shares available to foreigners, and domestic A shares only for Chinese investors listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange. Its B shares rose 0.64 percent to HK$4.69 on Thursday in line with a market uptrend.