Power steering supplier China Automotive Systems has booked operating income of US$7.1m for the 2009 first quarter, up from $6.8m a year ago.
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First quarter sales rose 7.8% to $44.7m as sales of steering components for passenger and light duty vehicles increased 10.9% to $29.3m though sales for commercial vehicles fell to $9.7m from $11.3m.
Earnings per share fell to $0.13 from $0.18 in Q1 2008 but the number of diluted shares outstanding in the 2009 first quarter was up 23.2%, the supplier said. Q1 2009 net cash flow from operations was $8.9m compared with a negative cash flow the previous year.
CEO Qizhou Wu said: “China has continued to grow despite the global economic recession and, in January 2009, became the largest automotive market in the world. First quarter vehicle sales were up almost 4% to over 2.6m vehicles. This growth is in sharp contrast to other markets which continue to report deep declines in vehicle sales.”
He said new vehicle demand “began to pick up” during the first quarter after the government reduced sales tax on smaller vehicles and introduced a subsidy for rural markets.
The $12.2m gross profit for the first quarter of 2009 matched that of a year ago while gross margin dipped 2.2% to 27.3%.
Net income for the 2009 first quarter was $2.3m, or $0.08 per diluted share, versus $4.4m, or $ 0.18 per diluted share, the previous year.
