Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd said on April 30 that its operating income in the first quarter of the year slumped 20% over the previous year to RMB16.008 billion.

Meanwhile, the quarterly net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached –RMB2.096 billion, a year-on-year nosedive of 250.62%. The net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses sharply plunged 341% from the year-ago period to –RMB2.161 billion.

Besides, basic earnings per share for the first quarter were –RMB0.44, compared with RMB0.29 for the same period a year earlier. Weighted average return on net assets amounted to -4.62%, down by 7.5 percentage points from a year ago.

As at the end of reporting period, the company’s total asset was RMB95.867 billion, with 2.54% increase compared with the beginning of the year. The total liability was RMB51.528 billion, with 8.86% growth over the beginning of the year. The debt asset ratio was 53.75%, which was 3.12 percentage points higher than the beginning of the year.

Moreover, the R&D, financial and income tax expenses from January to March reached RMB455.926 million, -RMB42.421 million and RMB67.509 million, surging 71.8%, 66.03% and 282.11% year on year respectively. Nevertheless, the quarterly investment income tumbled 134.58% to –RMB397.154 million.

The automaker explained that the R&D expenses significant increase was mainly attributed to the company’s accounting conversion from year-end to quarter-end in the first quarter of 2019. The increase of financial expenses mainly resulted from the decrease in interest income, while income tax expense growth was mainly caused by the decrease in deferred income tax assets. In addition, investment income decreased largely due to the substantial decline in investment income of Changan Ford.