Shanghai (ZXZC)- FAW Car Co., Ltd. forecasted that it will post net profit between RMB 60 million and RMB 100 million during the first half of this year, slumping between 63% and 78% year on year, compared with RMB 270 million during the same period last year.

It is predicted that basic earnings per share will range between RMB 0.04 and 0.06 during the past six months, plunging from 64.7% to 76.5% over the previous year, compared with RMB 0.17 during the same period last year.

FAW Car attributed the net profit and operating revenue slumps to the increasingly intensified competition of auto market during the first half of this year, the price changes of raw materials and the structural adjustment of products.

On Nov. 18, FAW Car announced that it would transfer the relevant assets of Hongqi brand to its controlling shareholder, FAW Group for RMB 428 million. After FAW Car split off Hongqi brand, it turned loss into profits. FAW Car's 2017 sales data revealed that it delivered 239,500 vehicles with a year-on-year growth of 23.77%. Moreover, it earned revenue of RMB 27.902 billion in 2017, jumping 22.86% on an annual basis. It achieved a net profit surge of 129.4% over the previous year to RMB 280 million in 2017.