HONG KONG, April 22 (Reuters) - Chinese truck assembler Qingling Motors Co Ltd on Tuesday posted a worse-than-expected 44 percent drop in 2002 net profit amid intense competition, but added that unit sales rose strongly in the first quarter.
Qingling, the mainland partner of Japan's Isuzu Motors , said it sold 7,412 trucks in the first quarter, up 18 percent from the same period last year.
Its shares ended down 8.65 percent to HK$0.95 after it reported a net profit of 146.8 million yuan (US$17.7 million) for 2002, below market consensus forecasts of 153 million yuan.
The company sold a record of 32,787 trucks last year, up eight percent. But the total value of those sales fell 3.4 percent to 3.22 billion yuan due to intense competition in China's automobile market, Qingling said in a statement.
Qingling's profit margin narrowed in 2002 as cost of sales increased by about two percentage points to 83 percent of sales and distribution costs nearly doubled to 282.89 million yuan from 142.95 million yuan in the previous year.
"Its profit was lower than expected and I may revise down earnings forecast on the company for 2003. In the short term, it lacks growth momentum," an analyst at Credit Lyonnais said.
(US$=8.28 yuan)