Dongfeng Motor's net profit down in Q1

China's homegrown automaker Dongfeng Motor said Sunday that its net profit fell 2.41 percent year on year to 210.69 million yuan (32.34 million U.S. dollars) in the first three months of 2011.

However, net profit belonging to its parent company rose 2.17 percent to 190.48 million yuan during the period, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The leading Chinese automaker attributed the net profit decrease to rising costs such as consumption taxes for its sports utility and multi-purpose vehicles which together saw a 65.22-percent year-on-year surge in sales, the statement said.

Also, the market value of stocks held by the company decreased 424.74 percent, or 1.04 million yuan, from January to March, it added.

In addition, it received less government subsidy in the first quarter of the year with the subsidy down 1.9 million yuan from the same period of 2010, it said.

Meanwhile, the company's revenues rose 19.6 percent year on year to 5.43 billion yuan from January to March as its sales rose 17.73 percent during the period, it noted.

Sales of light trucks and pickup trucks grew 9.09 percent and 24.95 percent, respectively, it said.

Earnings per share rose 2.17 percent year on year to 0.0952 yuan in the first quarter of the year and total company assets stood at 19.79 billion yuan, up 5.13 percent from the same period of last year, it said.

Shares of the company climbed up 0.19 percent to close at 5.32 yuan per share on Friday.

Dongfeng Motor, which targeted its annual sales at 2.9 million units in 2011, is a major listed unit of Dongfeng Motor Group, third only to SAIC Motor and China FAW Group in terms of sales volume.