Shanghai (ZXZC)- SAIC Motor announced on Thursday its net profit attributable to shareholders amounted to 13.314 billion yuan ($2.056 billion) in the first half of 2021, surging 58.61% from a year ago. Excluding the impact of certain non-recurring gains and losses, the semi-annual net profit soared 65.18% to 11.854 billion yuan ($1.83 billion).

During the reporting period, the Shanghai-based auto giant earned 366.096 billion yuan ($56.534 billion) of gross revenue, representing a 29.03% year-on-year growth.

Besides, the company reported its first-half net cash flow generated by operating activities was 1.585 billion yuan ($244.725 million), plunging 94.6% over a year earlier. Basic earnings per share stood at 1.15 yuan ($0.18), versus 0.718 yuan ($0.11) for the prior-year period.

SAIC Motor said the increase in its Jan.-Jun. net profit was partly credited to the auto sales growth coming with the effective control of the coronavirus pandemic. In the first six months of 2021, the company’s auto wholesales rose 12.1% from a year ago to 2.297 million units, while the actual retail sales jumped 29.7% to 2.945 million units. Its first half export volume and overseas car sales totaled around 260,000 units, zooming up nearly 100% compared to the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the automaker also noted another contributing factor. While boosting sales, SAIC Motor was also making sustained efforts to improve its production and sales structures, including handling the chip supply constraint and stepping up the sale of new energy vehicle models, so that the gross margin was increased correspondingly.