(Yicai) March 20 -- Geely Automobile logged a more than 50 percent leap in net profit last year from the year before after the Chinese vehicle manufacturer posted record revenue thanks to its best yearly sales of cars and new energy vehicles.

Geely raked in net profit of CNY5.3 billion (USD736 million) in 2023, a jump of 51 percent from the year before not including one-time bargaining purchase gains, which refers to the acquiring of assets below the fair market value, according to the Hangzhou-based company’s latest financial report released today. And its gross profit soared 31 percent to CNY27.4 billion (USD3.8 billion).

Revenue surged 21 percent to an all-time high of CNY179.2 billion (USD24.9 billion), boosted by record sales, the report said. The firm shipped 1.68 million vehicles last year, the most ever, of which 487,000 were new energy cars, also a new record. Exports soared 38 percent year on year to 274,000 autos.

Thanks to better cost control, product structure and economies of scale, cash flows swelled 46 percent over the period to CNY28.4 billion (USD3.9 billion) and the gross profit margin expanded to 15.1 percent from 14.1 percent.

Geely has set its sales target for this year at 1.9 million units, which includes a 66 percent hike in NEV sales from 2023.

Last year, sales of Geely’s electric car marque Zeeker surged 65 percent to 119,000 units. As of Dec. 31, Geely had delivered more than 190,000 Zeeker cars. And shipments of Lynk, a luxury brand co-founded with Sweden’s Volvo, jumped 22 percent to 220,000 units.

Geely’s share price [HKG:0175] closed down 0.4 percent at CNY8.83 (USD1.23) apiece today.

Editor: Kim Taylor