China electric vehicle giant BYD’s first-half profit jumps 24.4%

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD reported a 24.4% rise in first-half net profit on Wednesday despite faltering spending on big-ticket items in the world’s largest automobile market.

Net profit hit 13.6 billion yuan ($1.91 billion) for the January-June period, it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing.

($1 = 7.1252 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and David Goodman)