(Yicai) July 16 -- Shares of Sunwoda Electronic surged by the exchange-imposed daily trading limit after the Chinese battery giant unveiled a plan to invest up to CNY2 billion (USD275 million) to build a new plant in Vietnam. The firm also published a solid semiannual earnings forecast.

Sunwoda [SHE: 300207] was closed up 20 percent at CNY18.47 (USD2.54) in Shenzhen today.

Sunwoda will establish a project company in Vietnam to construct and operate an industrial park in the Southeast Asian country to produce consumer lithium battery cells, system in package, and finished battery products, the Shenzhen-based firm announced late yesterday.

The project is still subject to regulatory approval by Chinese and Vietnamese authorities, Sunwoda noted, without revealing any further details about the plant.

Vietnam’s production capacity of international consumer electronic products has surged in recent years. Building a plant in the country can help Sunwoda better serve overseas customers and more flexibly respond to macroeconomic fluctuations, industrial policy adjustments, and global trade patterns, the firm pointed out.

Sunwoda also released its first-half earnings prediction yesterday. Net profit likely jumped 75 percent to 105 percent to between CNY767 million and CNY899 million (USD105.6 million and USD123.7 million) in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, mainly thanks to steady growth of revenue from its primary business and higher profitability.

Last year, Sunwoda’s revenue from the consumer battery business totaled CNY28.5 billion (USD3.9 billion), accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total, according to the company’s latest annual financial statement. Its products are applied in consumer digital products, such as smartphones and laptops.

Sales revenue from overseas markets accounted for 43 percent of Sunwoda’s total last year. The firm has started building new factories in India, Vietnam, Hungary, and Morocco, in addition to its production bases in China, in recent years.

Editor: Futura Costaglione